17 Things You Didn’t Know About The Ebola Virus

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17 Things You Didn’t Know About The Ebola Virus

It’s the worst Ebola virus outbreak in history. West Africa is in a state of panic and paranoia. More than 1,201 people have been infected and 672 have died since the outbreak started more than four months ago. With up to a 90% fatality rate, the virus terrorizes residents of countries where breakouts occur, and terrifies the rest of us worried that it will spread. Preventing its spread is the primary goal of medical personnel. Here are 17 things you didn’t know about the Ebola Virus, from its first cases in Central Africa, to the current red-alert situation, to treatment and containment methods, to hopeful signs for future prevention.

Biology

Ebola is categorized as a member of the filoviridae family of viruses, one of three negative-stranded RNA viruses (Marburg, Ebola, and Reston) that often take on a “U” shape. Although it’s not yet known how it enters the cell, once inside, the RNA of the ebola virus is transcribed and replicated inside the cytoplasm, thereby infecting the cell. The Niemann-Pic C1 (NPC1) is a cholesterol transporter protein that is required for the ebola virus to permeate a cell, infect it, and replicate. The mutation of NPC1 is believed by many scientists to be key to finding a cure — perhaps through its mutation. As viruses are acellular, they do not replicate into other cells, but use the interior makeup of the host cell to multiply and assemble within the cell.

First cases and primary virus species

Ebola takes its name from the DRC’s Ebola River, where the virus first broke out in what was then Zaire in 1976. The original species was called Ebola-Zaire (considered the most lethal subtype), and the first outbreak occurred in the Yambuku region. With 318 reported cases, it resulted in an 88% death rate (280 people). The second Ebola subtype, Ebola-Sudan, was introduced to the world that same year, spreading quickly around the Nzara and Maridi areas of the Sudan. There, 53% of the 284 reported cases resulted in death (151 people).


The Infamous Marburg Outbreak

In 1967, the Filoviridae virus Marburg made its first appearance during outbreaks in three European cities: Marburg and Frankurt, Germany, and Belgade, former Yugoslavia. The source was said to be from labs where imported green monkeys from Uganda were being analyzed. A total of 31 cases of infections were documented when lab workers starting showing similar violent symptoms, and seven of these workers died.


Other species of the virus

There are three other known types of the virus: ebola Côte d’Ivoire , ebola Bundibugyo (BDBV) and the Reston type. The former virus is also known as the Tai’ Forest virus and first surfaced in 1995 after a Swiss ethologist was infected from doing a necropsy on a chimpanzee in the Côte d’Ivoire forest. BDBV first surfaced in Uganda in 2007, and is as lethal as its cousin, the EBOV (classic ebola virus). The latter virus, Reston, is found in China and the Philippines, and while it can infect humans, has not killed one to date–instead causing the death of scores of monkeys and pigs.

Continued outbreaks throughout history

The worst outbreak after the late ’70s surge of the virus was in 1995, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the ebola-Zaire strain ravaged the areas surrounding the town of Kikwit, infecting 317 patients and killing 245. Lower-level outbreaks in the Gabon followed, but it was in Uganda in 2000 where the highest number of cases occurred; 415 people were infected with the Sudan subtype in the country’s Gulu district. It spread to other areas of the country. Task forces and the World Health Organization helped contain and eventually eliminate the breakout, but only after 224 deaths occurred. The last outbreak of high casualties was in 2007 in the D.R.C., where again ebola-Sudan’s hemorrhagic fever cut a swath through some very remote areas in the Kasai Occidental provinces. When the outbreak ended, 183 of the 247 infected had died.

Transmission

Ebola can be transferred from animal to animal, from animal to human and from human to human. The infection travels via fluid secretions (blood, urine, semen, mucus), usually orally or through broken skin. In many cases, contaminated victims’ vomit has been a primary catalyst for the virus to travel, or burial ceremonies where improper handling methods infected community members. In Africa, contact with animals infected with the virus such as pigs, monkeys, bats, and porcupines inflicted humans. Many healthcare and hospital workers have died from the disease through lack of knowledge or environmental exposure.

The source

Studies throughout the decades have led researchers to believe that one of the greatest sources for ebola is the fruit-eating bat. Three different bat species — hypsignathus monstrosus, epomops franqueti, and myonycteris torquata carry RNA sequences, proof that their bodies carry mutations from the ebola virus. This suggests that these bats may have lived with the virus for a long time, and that they could be the source. The often wide range of area a single outbreak can cover also implies that the source could be a mammal that can travel great distances very quickly. A proposed chain of events by many scientists is: bat droppings are eaten by terrestrial animals; the animals die, and then their carcasses are handled by a human. Keep in mind, not only the human race is at risk: approximately one third of gorillas in protected areas have perished from the virus in the last 15 years.

Symptoms

Ebola and Marburg viruses start to show symptoms after approximately five days after infection. Chills, sore throat, a typical-feeling fever, sore joints — all common symptoms that would not necessarily send a victim to the doctor. Days later, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, body rashes and red eyes begin, and increase in severity. Many cases result in internal hemorrhaging or external bleeding from the mouth, nose, ears, and rectum.



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