Ebola Research Paper

Ebola Virus also known as EVD was discovered in West Africa around 1976. The affected region in Congo was near the Ebola River, which is how the virus got its name. The first two outbreaks were in Nzara, Sudan and Yambuku. Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding. It is spread through contact with infected body fluids, whose normal host species is unknown. It can be transmitted through wild animals, and after affected, through human to human contact. The average case fatality rate is fifty percent. The rate has been anywhere between twenty-five to ninety percent in that past.

Ebola is the virus Ebolavirus (EBOV), a viral genus, and the disease Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), a viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). The virus is named after the Ebola River Valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), which is near the site of the first recognized outbreak in 1976 at a mission hospital run by Flemish nuns. It has remained largely obscure until 1989 when several widely publicized outbreaks occurred among

In late 2013, Ebola virus disease (EVD), a deadly and lethal disease, remerged in West Africa spreading to various countries in the region. In humans, the disease is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids leading to haemorrhagic fever (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Originating in 1976 in equatorial Africa, past outbreaks with a few hundred cases had been contained within rural, forested areas in Uganda and Congo (Piot, 2012). In 2014, a total of 20, 206 cases and 7,905 deaths were reported to have occurred in up to eight countries worldwide. Of all cases and deaths resulting from the disease, 99.8% occurred in three neighbouring West African countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea (WHO, 2014). With a case fatality rate from about 50% to 90%, and the absence of preventative or curative therapies, the Ebola epidemic has led to overall global alarm and further elucidated existing global health disparities that perpetuated the epidemic with these West African countries.

In 2014, Ebola hemorrhagic fever caused an outbreak in West Africa that officially ended in 2016. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus species” (“Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease)”). Ebola is caused when a person is in contact with an infected person’s blood or other body fluids. Prevention of contracting the disease include, not touching the dead body of an infected person, not touching body fluids of an infected person, avoiding places infected people are being treated, not touching bats or nonhuman primates

First discovered in the 1970’s, the ebola virus was contained to West Africa (“About Ebola Virus Disease”). Villagers’ diets consisted primarily of the resources readily available. Among these resources were fruit, vegetables, and animals, namely monkeys. Monkeys carried the ebola virus, and when people ate them, without proper cleaning and cooking techniques, they became infected. Ebola, formally known as Zaire Ebola Virus, is transmitted through bodily fluids like saliva, blood, semen, breast milk, mucus, sweat, tears, feces and urine. ("Ebola in West Africa."). Since it was introduced to a third world country, where hygiene is not regarded as important as survival. Without education, protection and segregated sewage, the virus began to spread. In days people were dying after spreading the virus to those closest to them (Waterman). The bodies, though dead, were still harboring the virus and

Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are five identified ebola virus species: Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus); Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus); Taï Forest virus (Taï Forest ebolavirus); and the Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus). The fifth, Reston virus (Reston ebolavirus), causes disease in nonhuman primates. There have been ebola outbreaks in Africa starting in 1976 and lasting until 2016. These outbreaks have occurred as a result of human to human contact with bodily fluids which happens mostly during funerals of the deceased and population migration between countries. Patterns between outbreaks could potentially

The viruses in this family range from 800 to 1000 nanometers in length. Marburg and Ebola are distinguished by their length after purification. Infectivity depends on particular lengths: the longer, the more infectious. All Ebola viruses measure up to about the same length. Each virus particle consists of a helical-coiled tube made of four virally encoded proteins. This strand of RNA is found in an envelope formed from the host's plasma cell membrane, which is now spiked with another carbohydrate-coated viral protein. Differences in gene sequence and very small differences in serological nature are what make each Ebola virus unique from each other, with its own antigenic and biological properties.

The Ebola virus is negatively stranded RNA type. It requires a polymerse transformation to reproduce. This leaves the virus subject to genetic code errors creating subtypes of Ebola. There are four known subtypes of the Ebola virus. The original subtype was Ebola Zaire (www.netLibrary.com).

“Together with Marburg virus, Ebola makes up the family Filoviridae, of the order Mononegavirales ( the non-segmented, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses” (5)

tested to confirm infection. Ebola virus is detected in blood only after onset of symptoms, most notably

The narrative now flashes back to 1976 and the outbreak of two strains of the Ebola virus, beginning with Yu G. A quiet storekeeper in the town of Nzara, Sudan, Yu G. dies at home from Ebola and is buried in a traditional Zande funeral. It is unclear where or how Yu G. becomes infected, but a few days after his death, two of his co-workers develop similar symptoms. One of these men, known as P.G., has a wide circle of friends and exposes many people in the town. Before long, the Sudan strain of the virus has traveled to a hospital in the town of Maridi, where it quickly spreads through the medical staff and patients. The outbreak ends only when the surviving medical staff abandons the hospital and inadvertently break the chain of infection.

The 2014 epidemic acknowledged as the “Ebola Outbreak”, is the leading, most widespread, disease recorded in history. Ebola is a virulent, lethal disease, evident by fever, and severe internal bleeding. It is spread through the contact of infected body fluid. Symptoms include fever, body weakness, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat. Ebola fever has been recently discovered wiping out large populations in multiple countries all throughout West Africa. On September 30, 2014, CDC confirmed the first travel-associated case of Ebola in the United States. Because of the uncontrolled outbreak, the CDC and partners were taking precautions to stagnate the spread of the Ebola virus throughout the United States. Cases have

Many children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have lost one or both parents to Ebola since the start of the outbreak in West Africa, it's one of the first obstacles that must be overcome if West Africa is to recover.

The Ebola Haemorrahagic Fever, or Ebola for short, was first recognized as a virus in 1967. The first breakout that caused the Ebola virus to be recognized was in Zaire with 318 people infected and 280 killed. There are five subtypes of the Ebola virus, but only four of them affect humans. There are the Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast and the Ebola-Bundibugyo. The fifth one, the Ebola-Reston, only affects nonhuman primates. The Ebola-Zaire was recognized on August 26, 1976 with a 44 year old schoolteacher as the first reported case. The Ebola-Sudan virus was also recognized in 1976 and was thought to be that same as Ebola-Zaire and it is thought to have broken out in a cotton factory in the Sudan. The Ebola-Ivory Coast was

Normally infecting fruit bats, the Ebola virus found a mutation allowing it to spread to humans. This virus is an acute and often fatal illness. This virus first erupted in two outbreaks in 1976 (one occurring in Nzara and Sudan, while the other occurred in a village near the Ebola river, where the virus takes its name.) The current outbreak, starting in West Africa with the potential to spread throughout the world,  is  larger and more complex than previous outbreaks. This virus has caused more deaths than all other past Ebola outbreaks combined. With approximately five people infected with the virus every hour in Sierra Leone alone, how far – and how fast – will the Ebola virus go?