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What is an Ebola Virus?: An emerging disease from Africa.

© Neal Rolfe Chamberlain

Before we get into a discussion of Ebola viruses and the diseases they cause, I want you to know that this is a very, very, very, rare disease. There have only been 4 major outbreaks of human Ebola hemorrhagic fever in recorded history. All of the outbreaks of human Ebola virus disease started in Africa. The largest epidemic infected 550 people. All the epidemics were contained by the use of sanitary hospital procedures.

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. These viruses are members of the filovirus family. A great picture of the virus can be seen at the Access Excellence website.

EBOZ, EBOS, EBOG, and EBOT can infect humans. The most deadly Ebola virus is EBOZ (about 90% fatality rate). EBOS has a 60% fatality rate. A recent report (Courbot-Georges, M.C. et.al.,1997. Isolation and Phylogenetic Characterization of Ebola Viruses Causing Different Outbreaks in Gabon. Vol. 3, No. 1. Emerging Infectious Diseases, pg.59-62) mentions EBOG. This strain of Ebola is present in Gabon, Africa. The EBOR virus was initially discovered in a monkey housing facility in Reston, Virginia, USA. It does NOT cause disease in humans. It only causes disease in monkeys. The monkeys were captured initially in the Philippines and were already infected when they arrived in Maryland. EBOT has only been reported infecting one person so far and that person survived.

These viruses are found only in Africa and the Philippines. It is still not known what animals the viruses live in and how the first person gets the virus from the wild. We do know that if someone is infected with the virus they can only infect other people through close personal contact. That means persons who handle the sick person's blood and other body fluids can get the disease.

Ebola viruses cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. After being infected by the virus it usually takes 6-12 days for a person to start getting sick. The disease begins with fever, chills, headache, loss of appetite, and muscle aches. If the person has a very lethal strain of Ebola then the disease can get worse. Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, sore throat, and chest pain can occur. The virus causes damage to the blood vessels of the patient and in severe cases the blood fails to clot. The patient may see blood in their stools and vomit. Their skin may have little pinpoint red spots like blood blisters. They may then go into shock from blood loss.

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