Ebola Virus

Scientists have commented recently on the development of new and more deadly diseases in different parts of the world and have puzzled over the origins of some of these killers. The so-called Ebola virus is one of the deadliest, and descriptions of what it does to its victims makes it one of the more horrific ways to die by disease. Epidemics have always been a part of human history (Dudley 12), and Ebola is an extremely deadly virus from the tropics, a disease known as a filovirus. Three subtypes have been identified, each labeled with the location of the initial recorded outbreak--Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Reston, a trio of deadly viruses, whose origins remain unknown (Preston 295). These deadly flus threaten life and confound scientists, and much research will have to be conducted to determine the origin, etiology, and potential preventions or cures for this deadly set of diseases.

Ebola kills by clotting the blood of its victims and chewing through connective tissue. Death comes as victims by "literally coughing yours guts out" (Dudley 27). It is an airborne virus which is highly contagious, and nine out of ten victims die. There is evidence that Ebola can jump from species to species. Viruses are neither dead nor alive. They destroy life in a molecular cell-by-cell process and they have been on earth far longer than man. They are so small that they are composed of countable numbers of atoms. They were discovered some time ago, before the turn of t

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ies of antibiotics, or dozens of individual drugs. Others confer greater powers of infectivity, virulence, resistance to disinfectants or chlorine, even such subtly important characteristics as the ability to tolerate higher temperatures or more acidic conditions (Dudley 19-20). Sequestering microbes geographically has also proven to be an illusion. Millions of people cross international borders each day, and as people move form place to place, they take microbial visitors with them: In the age of jet travel . . . a person incubating a disease such as Ebola can board a plane, travel 12,000 miles, pass unnoticed through customs and immigration, take a domestic carrier to a remote destination, and still not develop symptoms for several days, infecting many other people before his condition is noticeable (Dudley 21). The first symptoms for the Ebola virus include sore throat, headache, and muscle pain, and these are deceptively mild considering the horrors to come. After a few days, the sufferer begins vomiting blood and bleeding profusely, both internally and from the nose, eyes, and gums. Between 50 and 90 percent of those infected die within two weeksand some within daysfrom blood loss and shock. There is no cure (Glaus

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