History


 * For each of our readings, find one example of a virus outbreak in global history. Describe the time of the viral outbreak event, where it happened, what virus it was, how it was contained, and how many other organisms were affected. If you are having trouble finding a new one, add on to a previous outbreak another reader has listed.**

On page four of the Hot Zone, Richard Preston writes about Monet going to the country in 1979. He also mentions that in 1979 was the summer of the final HIV break out. HIV most literally translated means Human Immunodeficiency virus, which causes aids. Graph: HIV prevalence in adults by the end of 2001 >>
 * HIV infection occurs by the transfer of blood or is sexually transmitted. There are four major routes of transmission; unprotected sexual intercourse, mother to child at birth, breast milk, and needles. In 1979 HIV hit Africa, Aids spread quickly through the human race. It came from the central rain forest of Africa. The disease is not very infective, since only transmitted through blood and sex, but in Africa, where on occasion women, in order to get out of debt, sell their bodies, AIDs thrived. Aids is still try to be stopped today, so the containment is not proving/turning out immediate success.

-Ebola- There was an Ebola outbreak in Congo-Brazzaville, near the border of Gabon, which took 64 lives in February of 2003. Teams of medical workers were put into the outbreak zone and the borders were close off to travel. [[HotZone|Return to HotZone HomePage]Ebola can be contracted through coming in contact with an infected host.

July 6 1976 in southern Sudan is where the first case of the Ebola out break began. Since the Ebola virus is highly contagious it does not matter what happens to host making Ebola very dangerous and deadly. One of the biggest out breaks was in Maridi east of where the virus originally started. “It hit the hospital like a bomb.” The reason for the massive out break was because the hospital had been using dirty needle allowing the virus to spread even easier. The virus wiped out the entire hospital and then spreaded to medical staff and families of the sick and dying.

Recently, in September 2007 another reported Ebola outbreak has occured in the Congo. 76 reported deaths in humans, and thousands of gorillas have dired from the strain, causing the Lowland Gorilla to be classified as an endangered species. Scientists have also found that different strains of the virus are able to swap genes, which means that there is the possibility of different strains thorugh swapping genes, and a vaccine seems more impossible.

The -Marburg- virus is a virus that is closely related to ebola. The virus gets its name from Marburg, Germany, the town that had the first known outbreak of the virusin 1967. Thirty-one people became ill, and seven of them died. The outbreak came from monkeys that lab workers had been using while testing for polio vaccines. The next major outbreak came in 1988, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which 123 people were killed. The Marburg symptoms are similar to those of Ebola, whith early symptoms being a headache and fever. Eventually, the virus could cause organ disfunction and eventually kill the host. There is no known cure for Marburg, but hypotension and shock can help. The virus has been found in monkeys and bats, most commonly fruit bats and bats living in mines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus

Tuberculosis Epidemic Tuberculosis (TB) kills about two million people each year, making it one of the world's leading infectious causes of death among young people and adults. One-third of the world's population is infected with TB. Each year, more than 8 million people become sick with TB. Due to a combination of economic decline, the breakdown of health systems, insufficient application of TB control measures, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), TB is on the rise in many developing and transitional economies.

Between 2000 and 2020, it is estimated that:
 * Nearly one billion people will be newly infected with TB.
 * 200 million people will become sick from TB.
 * TB will claim at least 35 million lives.[5]

Southeast Asia: With an estimated three million new cases of TB each year, this is the world's hardest-hit region. Eastern Europe: In Eastern Europe, TB deaths are increasing after almost 40 years of steady decline. One-third of people infected with HIV will develop TB AS OF 3 PM Sunday October 21st 2007: At least 40 people tested positive after the health department treated an exotic dancer from the Dominican Republic several months ago and sent her home, according to a government news release issued Friday.

Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that attack the lungs and can be fatal. People with latent tuberculosis do not feel sick and present no symptoms, but are at risk of contracting the full disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-21-tuberculosis-stmaarten_N.htm http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/fighting/tuberculosis/