VirusInfo


 * Use this space to describe information you learn about viruses. What do they look like? How do they attack? What are the symptoms? Update this page as you learn more from the book and in class.

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Ebola Virus is named for the Ebola River, where the most dangerous strain 'Ebola Zaire' broke out in 55 villages around the river. 9/10 people infected die. Ebola attacks internal organs, and liquifies them. after death the body spontaeneously turns into liquid like the organs and deteriorates. Ebola is very simple, it kills quickly. Ebola is also directly related to the measles, mumps, rabies, and certain types of pneumonia.

An Ebola particle contains 7 proteins, arranged in a long stringy braided structure. 3 of those proteins are barely understood and the other four are completely unknown. Ebola seems to target the immune system, like HIV. Ebola kills within 10-14 days. Humans and monkeys are biologically very similar, and as a product of this, the Ebola Virus cannot tell the difference and so it jumps between humans and monkeys easily.

Ebola can travel through the air

===__The first case of Ebola-Sudan was first detected in Nzara, Sudan and then spread to Maridi, Tembura, and Juba. On June 27, 1976, a Nzara Cotton Manufacturing Factory cloth room worker, Yu G, became ill with the disease, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and on July 6, 1976.__===

links: http://virus.stanford.edu/filo/ebos.html

There are 5 known Ebola viruses. They are Ebola Zaire (EBOZ), Ebola Sudan (EBOS), Ebola Tai (EBOT), Ebola Reston (EBOR), and Ebola Gabon (EBOG). The viruses got their name from the Ebola river in Zaire, Africa. This is where the virus was first discovered. The second name of each virus refers to the place that particular strain of Ebola was first found.

The most deadly Ebola virus is EBOZ (about 90% fatality rate). EBOS has a 60% fatality rate. The ebola virus is part of the filovirus family.

" ...Ebola victims often go into epileptic convulsions during the final stage... The whole body twitches and shakes, the arms and legs thrash around, and the eyes, sometimes bloody roll up into the head. The tremors and convulsions of the patient may smear or splatter blood around. Possibly this epileptic splashing of blood is one of the Ebola's strategies for success- ...spreading blood all over the place, thus giving the virus a chance to jump to a new host-- a kind of transmission through smearing" p. 81

10.8.07 The Marburg virus is a close relative of the ebola virus. It originated in Uganda and eastern Congo. The host is unknown but is suspected to have been fruit bats. The Marburg virus is nearly identical to the structure of the Ebola virus. The virus gives symptoms very much like typhoid and malaria. The disease can be spread through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, excrement and saliva. The early symptoms are not specific enough to specifically diagnose the disease until it is too late. Later in the infection jaundice, pancreatitis, weight loss, delirium, hypovolemic shockand multi organ dysfunction can occur. Unlike ebola external hemorrhaging form bodily orficies are very rare. The disease will usually last from one to three weeks then dies or kills its host. Fatality rate ranging from 23-30%. While there is no vaccine to cure Marburg's hospital treatment in general can help the body recover faster and increase survival rate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus#Infection

10/12/07

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol1no2/gubler.htm

The dengue fever is a bunch of febrile diseases found in the tropical parts of Africa. it is similar to malaria however malaria is usually spread in large cities. The virus is given to humans from the aegypti mosquito. the symptoms of the virus are usually head ache, muscle and joint pains, and rashes. The rash is bright red and covers the chest. The fever lasts about a week and dies down towards the end. There was a recent outbreak of this disease in Paraguay where there were over 16,000 cases reported...resulting in ten deaths.

10/21/07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus

The virus that the Army Medical Research team first thhink they have found is Marburg, but after experiments with the virud and using human blood serums, they find out that it is in fact Ebola Zaire, or closely related to it.

The Marburg virus is closely related to Ebola, and the host is presumed to be fruit bats. The Marburg and Ebola virus are very similar structurally. The disease can be spread through bodily fluids like blood, vomit, and saliva. The fatality rate is between 20 and 30%, while the disease lasts from a week to nearly a month.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Marburg_virus.jpg

People that have a deadly virus like Marburg or Ebola are placed in a Level 4 Biocontainment Hospital, also known as the "slammer." "They start flaking out by the second week. They become clinically depressed. Noncommunicative. They stare at the walls, speechless, passive, won't even watch television. Some of them become agitated and fearful. Some of them have to have a continual drop of valium in the arm to keep them from pounding on the walls, smashing the viewing windows, and tearing up the medical equipment.

The Ebola virus was first discovered in Zaire, Africa. The Ebola Zaire virus is the most deadly with around 90% fatality rate, and this is the virus that the Army Medical Research Team suspects to be just outside of Washington.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/Ebola_virus.jpg