Taking a Look at African Swine Fever

Summary: The yellow fever outbreak that took place in Africa this past year was a hidden disaster which exposed the flaws in the emergency vaccine supply. The epidemic essentially exposed a race between the mosquitos that spread yellow fever and the vaccines that protect people against yellow fever. Early in December 2015 in Africa, the first few deaths by yellow fever were misdiagnosed as merely food poisoning. As soon as the true culprit was exposed, emergency stockpiles of vaccines were exhausted before a small region was protected. However, the outbreak was mitigated due to the help of a colossal vaccine campaign that stretched the supplies by diluting vaccine doses all thanks to special donors such as Brazil and South Sudan. This outbreak barely got any coverage or attention due to the focus being on the Zika Virus epidemic. The yellow fever virus reached Asia via workers who worked in Africa; if the virus got a base in Asia, it would have been very traumatic. The virus was spreading to major

* The Reston Ebolavirus was discovered during an outbreak of Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) in crab-eating macaques from Hazleton Laboratories (now Covance) in 1989. Since the initial outbreak in Reston, Virginia, it has emerged in Siena Italy, Texas, and among pigs in the Philippines. Despite its status as a Level-4 organism, it is non-pathogenic to humans although hazardous in monkeys.

The mystery of the Ebola virus inspired this article that depicts the search for the virus’s source. Ebola is known as a zoonotic virus meaning it can affect many species of animals. This also means that its source comes from one or more species of animals that carry and transmit the disease without dying. This animal that holds the disease is known as a reservoir host. The article focusses on research on finding the reservoir host. Many cases of Ebola have been reported and studied. All reports have a common source of the initial sick individual having some connection with a cave or forest. This like another similar virus, Marburg, have its beginnings of its outbreaks with hunters or explorers. Marburg’s reservoir host has been determined to be a species of fruit bat. Many researchers agree that some form of bat is the host of Ebola, but with little research and not enough funding to conduct a viable research, this cannot be proven. Signs of bats include the viruses first know victim, Emile Ouamouno. A young boy, Emile was known to have played in and by a tree that later was discovered to be home to Angolan free-tailed bats. Later, research by Leendertz on different species of bats showed that RNA fragments of the Ebola virus were found in several species of fruit bats. While it can be concluded that bats serve as some chain in the Ebola infection,

The world as a whole should be mortified by what is happening in Sub-Saharan Africa. In places like Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho poverty, crime and systematic corruption are the tinder for the fire that is the HIV epidemic in Africa.

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

The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston is the true and dramatic story of the outbreaks of the frightening, unknown and incurable filoviruses; Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Ebola Reston. This book covers the first documented outbreak of the virus and continues to cover more outbreaks over the course of 23 years. These sisters viruses are highly infective and destroyed entire communities throughout Africa with the deaths of 50- 90% of their victims. The effects are similar and horrifying with the viruses penetrating every tissue and organ in the body of a person, primate or other animal. This book takes place in the late 1980s and is based on an outbreak of Ebola in a monkey house in the quaint town of Reston, Virginia. Richard Preston incorporates tales of several outbreaks that occurred in Africa years before to describe the potential destruction that the filoviruses could

The filovirus Ebola consists of 4 families: Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Reston. It is a rather simple virus in structure; each contain a single strand RNA strand and 7 different proteins, 3 which are only slightly understood and 4 that are completely unknown. The virus harms the immune system like the HIV virus, but Ebola causes an explosive attack. The virus is associated with the measles and mumps family, pneumonia viruses, parainfluenza viruses which include colds, and respiratory system related viruses. Unlike common viruses which are ball-shaped, Ebola’s shape represents that similar to a shepherd’s crook, a long snake-like thread that looks like a worm. Because the Ebola virus has a distinct structure, it has been classified as a “thread virus” in its own family of viruses, the filoviruses.

Mosquitos are the main transmitter of this virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), pigs and birds are also part of the transmission cycle, which increases the risk of infection to people living near these animals. According to WHO, there are twenty-four countries that have a risk of infection, particularly in the South-East region of Asia and the Western Pacific.

It is one of three members of the ‘Filoviridae’ family and comprises of 5 distinct species, three of which are fatal to humans. These fatal species are the ‘Zaire Ebolavirus (EBOV)’, the Reston Ebolavirus (RESTV), and the Sudan Ebolavirus (SUDV). Due to the difficulty in obtaining samples and studying the disease because of the remote areas in which it outbreaks, the cause of Ebola is not yet defined. However, it is greatly suspected that fruit bats carry and spread the virus (through their droppings) without being affected. As mentioned above, the virus is then transmitted to humans through contact with the infected bodily fluids of an infected organism or

As with any infectious disease, whether it originates from a virus, bacterium, or fungi, there is the possibility that it will become an epidemic. For centuries, deadly diseases have threatened to infect and possibly eradicate mankind. The Ebola virus, which causes an extremely fatal hemorrhagic fever, is considered to be one of the most aggressive contagions in the world. The Ebola virus is a member of a family of RNA viruses known as, “Filoviridae” and is composed of multiple distinct subspecies (Bausch et al. 2007). It causes Ebola Virus Disease, a fairly new disease that plagues multiple poor countries within Africa. The virus mainly attacks the lymphatic system, but also severely damages the reproductive and reticuloendothelial systems. The Ebola virus disease causes muscle pain, weakness, limited kidney and liver function and extreme blood loss due to failure of blood clotting.

The overall objective of this research was to investigate the role of feral swine in tick-borne pathogens transmission in Texas. This discussion is a review of research over the ecology of the Plague bacteria (Yersinia pestis) and the lack of research or information. Y. pestis potential has to infect feral and domestic mammals. Currently out of 1415 known human pathogens, 38% are bacteria.

Wild birds are considered the reservoir of the type A influenza virus and antigenic shifts caused by mutations are present in many animal reservoir. Antigenic shifts are dangerous because it can be unaffected by the host’s immune system. Pigs can be infected by both human and animal influenza virus, which may lead to recombination and creation of new strains that can be transmitted. Influenza virus can be transmitted from animal to human in cases such as the bird flu (H5N1) or swine flu (H1N1), which experienced an outbreak in

African horse sickness virus can be identified by antigen detection and nucleic acid detection (CFSPH, 2006; OIE, 2009). The whole virus can be detected from the sample using different identification techniques. Viral isolation, in outbreaks occurring outside the endemic areas, is of importance (CFSPH, 2006; Koekemoer, 2008). A variety of cell cultures can be used for the isolation of AHSV and these include BHK21 and Vero cells, (CFSPH, 2006; OIE, 2009). Other techniques that can be used to isolate AHSV include intracerebral inoculation of baby mice and intravascular inoculation of chicken embryo (CFSPH, 2006). Virus isolation through intracerebral inoculation of 2 to 3-day old mice is the preferred technique (Mellor and Hamblin, 2004). AHSV can be grown in insect cells such as mosquito cells (C6/36) and Culicoides spp (KC cells), but these do not show any cytopathic effect (Mellor and Hamblin, 2004). Group-specific tests such as complement fixation test (CFT), agar gel immune-diffusion (AGID), virus neutralization (VN), indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) direct ELISA and or ELISA can be used for serodiagnosis of AHSV (House et al., 1990). The five serological tests are used to detect antibodies against AHSV (House et al., 1990). Williams et al (1993) developed a group-reactive ELISA tests that detect antibodies against AHSV and equine encephalosis virus (EEV) which are known not to cross-react. Maree and Paweska (2005) prepared recombinant AHSV’s VP7 antigen and validated a VP7-based indirect ELISA (I-ELISA) for the detection of group-specific IgG antibodies in horse

Those who have WNV will not show any signs or symptoms. About 20% of people will develop a mild infection called West Nile Fever and will experience fever, headache, body ache, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin rash (West Nile Virus). If WNV gets severe many issues can occur to the infected. A very small percentage of infected people suffer from neurological infection, including inflammation of brain (encephalitis) and of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) (West Nile Virus). These signs include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, disorientation, coma, muscle jerking, seizures, and partial paralysis. The difference of how mild or severe WNV can affect you temporarily or sustain permanent damage.

evolution characteristics allowed it to cross barrier species and therefore spread to mammals and domestic poultry1. It has caused several pandemic outbreaks in the human population during the last century, being the 1918 (The Spanish Flu) the most devastating one. In veterinary, mostly in poultry, it causes great economic losses. Any available prophylactic or therapeutic tool has been demonstrated ineffective due to the peculiar escaping characteristics of the virus. The general characteristics of IAV and its evolution are briefly reviewed here.