Ebola Transmission

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Introduction

The Ebola virus is a relatively recently described, severe disease-causing pathogen that poses a huge threat to human health mostly within central Africa. This is, in part, due to its high mortality4 and lack of affordable treatment options. Ebola is considered a Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) agent; classifying it among the most threatening pathogens that exist in the world today. Agents within this category pose severe threats to human health and can be fatal due to the lack of available vaccines. There are five known Ebola species within the family Filoviridae and all of the species within the family cause varying degrees of viral hemorrhagic fever illnesses.[4]


Virus Structure


The Ebola virus has an RNA genome that codes for at least seven proteins and is enclosed in a nucleocapsid[3]. Four of the virus’ proteins are thought to comprise the capsid. The capsid allows the transcription and the translation of the viral genome and is therefore the principle player in the virus’ pathogenicity4. In addition, the virus has been shown to impair the immune function of the body by way of its infection of the phagocytic cells. The nucleocapsid and viral proteins move to new sites of infection and form themselves into virons where they can then go on to infect around the host body.
The virus forms many long rods and is much longer than it is wide and is often photographed in a hooked or curved form. The virus is around 80nm in diameter and can be of varying lengths ranging from 900-100nm. Ebola does not produce its own cell membrane and instead steals some of its host membrane to survive. [4]

A closeup photo of the Ebola virus.














Containment and Transmission

Workers from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) demonstrating proper attire worn in BSL-4 labs.


Include some current research in each topic, with at least one figure showing data.

A map indicating the locations of Ebola outbreaks throughout Africa.





















Possible Treatments


Include some current research in each topic, with at least one figure


Conclusion

In today's world Ebola is still a huge problem that faces many developing nations within Africa. In 2012 alone there were 5 outbreaks of Hemorrhagic Fevers around the world and 3 of them were due to the Ebola virus.7

References

1. Aleksandrowicz, P., A. Marzi, N. Biedenkopf, N. Beimforde, S. Becker et al. "Ebola Virus Enters Host Cells by Macropinocytosis and Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2011. Volume 204. Suppl 3S957-967.

2. Bharat T., et al. "Structural dissection of Ebola virus and its assembly determinants using cryo-electron tomography". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2012. p. 4275-4280.

3. "Ebola virus: from discovery to vaccine". Nature Reviews Immunology 3. 2003. p. 667- 85.

4. Noda, T., H. Ebihara, Y. Muramoto, K. Fujii, A. Takada, et al. "Assembly and Budding of Ebolavirus". PLoS Pathogens. 2006. Volume 2(9).

5. Phoolcharoen, Waranyoo, John M. Dye, et al. "A nonreplicating subunit vaccine protects mice against lethal Ebola virus challenge". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011. Volume 180.51. p. 20695-0700.

6. Weingartl, Hana M., Carissa Embury-Hyatt, Charles Nfon, Anders Leung, Greg Smith, and gary Kobinger. "Transmission of Ebola virus from pigs to non-human primates". Scientific Reports 2. 2012.


Edited by (Victoria Rose Gawlik), a student of Nora Sullivan in BIOL187S (Microbial Life) in The Keck Science Department of the Claremont Colleges Spring 2013.