Biology the Ebola Virus the

Biology The Ebola Virus The purpose of this paper is to introduce and analyze the book "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. Specifically it will discuss the realities of an Ebola virus outbreak in the United States. "The Hot Zone" discusses the Ebola virus, a deadly virus that has spread to many areas in the world through monkeys imported from Africa. When it first became know, it was difficult to recognize and almost impossible to treat because doctors did not recognize it or know how to treat it.

Compounding the difficulties are the several different types of Ebola viruses and their differing treatments and diagnosis makes these viruses extremely difficult to treat and control. Ebola is deadly, there is no real treatment for it, and if it was unleashed as a bioterrorism agent, it could wipe out entire populations quite easily. The Hot Zone" covers the first known case of the Ebola Virus, then known as the Marburg Virus, and follows it from its origins in Africa to an outbreak in the United States in 1989 through 1990.

Author Preston notes, "The first know emergence of Ebola Zaire - the hottest type of Ebola virus - occurred in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in fifty-five villages near the headwaters of the Ebola River" (Preston 62). The virus is very unusual because it is made up of strings rather than the clumps that make up more traditional viruses, and it is very difficult to prevent and treat. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control note, "There is no standard treatment for Ebola HF. Patients receive supportive therapy.

This consists of balancing the patient's fluids and electrolytes, maintaining their oxygen status and blood pressure, and treating them for any complicating infections" (Editors). It is related to several other viruses, but has mutated to be far worse than measles, mumps, or rabies, which it is related to. Author Preston writes, "Like measles, it triggers a rash all over the body. Some of its effects resemble rabies - psychosis, madness.

Other of its effects look eerily like a bad cold" (Preston 65), which is another reason it is difficult to diagnose, especially at first, and that is why many people die from it, they often do not seek any real treatment until it is far too late. While there is no known cure for the disease, sometimes early treatment does seem to help in the survival rate of the disease. The virus traveled to the United States via monkeys from the Philippines, where the virus was not known to exist before.

Some of the monkeys were infected with the Ebola virus, and they spread it to human scientists who worked with the monkeys in a warehouse in Reston, Virginia. The Army disease center (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick in Maryland discovers the disease in the monkeys, after the monkey's keeper became concerned that so many were dying, and they take over the investigation, splitting responsibility with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control.

When the Army cleaned out the monkey house, they engaged in the first ever large-scale biohazard mission in history, and they cleaned the building, but it later continued to infect monkeys. The outbreak in Virginia only affected monkeys, and did not affect the workers in the monkey house. In fact, four workers tested positive for the Ebola virus, but it did not make them sick, and eventually the virus passed from their bodies.

The scientists do not know why this occurred, but they did learn that Ebola travels through the air, as well as being spread by blood and blood contact. At first, it seems as if the people working on the Ebola project are doomed. The virus is extremely deadly, and almost impossible to cure. Fifty to 90% of people infected with the disease will die from it, and death is not quick, it is quite long and extremely painful.

The body's blood supply begins to clot, and then not clot, and the virus takes over major organs, such as the liver and intestines, literally destroying them. It is a nasty virus, and in Africa when it broke out in 1976, it wiped out entire villages. Scientists do not know where it originated, how it travels, and why it suddenly disappears. They also do not know how it mutates, or why. It is a mystifying disease, and it is more frightening because it can become so deadly so quickly.

People do not really know about Ebola and what it can do, and perhaps if they did, there would be more fear and panic about the virus. For example, some people who come in contact with it, and are even infected with it, do not become sick, while others do. Health care professionals who worked with patients suffering from Ebola often did not get sick, while some others did. Some died, some did not.

The virus seems to attack different people in different ways, and scientists are puzzled by these differences, as well. Ebola needs to be studied more fully, but understandably, many scientists do not want to work with Ebola because of the risks involved, and many do not want to work in the Level 4 biohazard environment that working with the.