Outline

This paper will follow the below mentioned outline:

Introduction

History

Discussion

Classification

Characteristics

Ebola Virus Family

Symptoms

Preventions

Conclusion

Ebola Virus

Introduction

Ebola viruses are a group of exotic viral agents that cause a severe hemorrhagic fever disease in humans and other primates. The four known subtypes or species of Ebola viruses are Zaire, Sudan, Reston, and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), named for the geographic locations where these viruses were first determined to cause outbreaks of disease. Ebola viruses are very closely related to, but distinct from, Marburg viruses. Collectively, these pathogenic agents make up a family of viruses known as the Filoviridae (World Health Organization, Pp. 71).

History

The Sudan epidemic of Ebola virus disease began in June 1976. An infected patient went to a hospital in Maridi, where the disease spread rapidly among patients and staff. The epidemic terminated by November, with 148 deaths in 284 cases (52 percent mortality). In 1979, another outbreak occurred with fewer cases and a small number of deaths (Update, Pp. 29).

The epidemic in Zaire was traced to an index case seen in September 1976. This individual received an injection of chloroquine for presumptive malaria at the Yambuku Mission Hospital, Bumba District. He recovered, but within a week an epidemic of fever began in hospital patients and staff. There were 318 cases with 288 deaths (90.5 percent mortality). As in Sudan, the epidemic ended by early November. The first epidemiological team sent to the area diagnosed a “fulminating” epidemic of typhoid fever in a vulnerable population. Fatalities, however, occurred in a hospital in Kinshasa among three nurses who had been transferred from the infected area, and as investigations continued, it became clear that the virus had passed from human to human via contaminated syringes. Strict needle discipline and isolation of patients were reestablished and maintained (Preston, Pp. 58).

In 1979, another hospital-centered outbreak occurred in Zaire, 300 kilometers from the original epidemic. Twenty-two of 33 patients died (66 percent mortality).

In 1989, an epidemic - confirmed as Ebola virus disease - erupted among Macaca cynomolgus monkeys shipped from the Philippines to a laboratory in Reston, Virginia, via Amsterdam and Kennedy airports. Sixty of 100 monkeys died. Soon, a second shipment arrived including two infected monkeys. Extensive international epidemiological investigation focused on this frightening episode. No human cases were reported and no satisfactory explanations advanced. All exposed individuals were monitored.

Epidemiologists have attempted to trace the origins of the Ebola virus and its distribution, locate host vertebrates, and learn its patterns of maintenance, propagation, and transmission. But efforts have been limited to a handful of dedicated investigators and a spotty sampling of the vast expanse of sub-Saharan Africa. Primate sampling has revealed at best minimal involvement. Associated with the 1979 Zaire outbreak is the unexpected finding of guinea pig immunes. Guinea pigs are South American rodents, raised there as pets and for food. They were introduced into Africa decades ago and in some regions are established as inquilines in houses. In this respect, their behavior resembles that of the multimammate rat (Mastomys natalensis), already known to be involved in the maintenance and ...