In Part One: The Shadow of Mt. Elgon, the author Richard Preston describes the initial interaction between humans and the Ebola virus. The first victim introduced in the book was Charles Monet, who worked on a sugar plantation in western Kenya. His exposure to the Ebola virus occurred on New Year's day in 1980 while him and his woman "friend" ventured to Mount Elgon and visited the Kitum Cave. Kitum Cave is believed to be the location of the initial exposure to Ebola, and days after Charles returned from his trip, he began experiencing the initial symptoms of the Ebola virus which includes a headache, red eyes, and a backache. There wasn't a single doctor that could explain…
Ebola is a hot virus, meaning it is very dangerous, and lethally hot. It gets into your body in numerous different ways, therefore making it extremely hard to fight against. The diseased virus gets into your body and immediately starts eating all of your tissue. This results in body functions ceasing to work. Your liver shuts down completely, leaving toxic wastes floating around in your blood stream. Your blood starts losing and your kidneys swell up and harden, leaving a most miserable cutting pain in your stomach. Your belly swells, leaving you looking deformed and rotting. Your face muscles are being liquefied by the…
The #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston works with its main goal of educating society on the disturbing topic of the Ebola virus. It attempts and adequately completes its goal to reveal the terrifying truth of the origins of this deadly virus to the whole of society. It is due to the fact that the Ebola Virus is both highly deadly as well as an infectious disease that it comes as no surprise that it is classified as an exotic “hot” virus. While the book takes place in and discusses many different places, the book’s main focus is on the continent of Africa, and the outbreaks that occur there. The first known outbreak of the Ebola Virus was located in a Central African rainforest, when Charles Monet, A Frenchman, was living there. It was…
Although made fun of, being said often, Ebola is deadly and fast-spreading. Often associated with Africa, Ebola is spread by many different methods, such as water and mosquitos. Although very rare in the US, it is often common in 3rd World countries. Seeing as though there are many ways to spread, by blood, fecal matter, and the like, it is very easy to be caught. However, the symptoms are…
Recently our world has been in panic about a contagious virus called Ebola. As more and more people come in contact with this horrible disease, we learn more and more about it. We learn where it came from, how you can contract the virus, and most importantly what might be the cure for it. This disease is quickly spreading around the world. Unsafe contact with wildlife, lack of medical care, and inadequate safety procedures are what led to the first case of Ebola in humans and the spread from one country into another.…
Currently, there is an Ebola virus outbreak that is possibly threatening society. There have been countless reports in the media covering the virus and how it may have spread over several continents. Sources have stated that the virus outbreak started in Liberia. Eric Bolling reports that Texas Health Ebola has killed 75,000 in just one year. The Ebola virus is one that is extremely contagious, but at the same time still lacks an effective cure.…
What exactly is Ebola? A question I asked myself before beginning my assignment. Ebola is a virus disease that is caused by infection with certain virus species. This virus causes various symptoms such as high fevers, headaches, weakness, vomiting, muscle pain, rashes, and redness in the eyes. While reading “Something in the Forest,” I found a couple of sections to be mysterious but that contained clues on to how Charles Monet may have obtained his deadly disease on his trip to Kitum Cave. “Did he run his hands over the stone trees and prick his finger on a crystal?” (Preston, Pg. 35) The moment I read this I became filled with curiosity, did this wound actually occur? If it did, did he cover it or left it out in the open? As a medical assistant, I am aware that if something as simple as dust or dirt touches a wound it can cause…
In the late 1900s there were these unknown diseases that were making people die out of nowhere. This made people all around frightened to their wits. No one knew a cure for it or where it originated from. A disease known as Marburg which was first thought to be found in a guy named Charles Monet, caused him to have massive hemorrhages and clotting. This was a deadly disease which could be caught by the person who has it by as easily as it seeping through an open wound. Marburg is a filovirus which can be comprised with two types of viruses called Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan. Ebola Zaire is the worst out of the three, killing nine out of ten humans who have it. An incident occurred in Reston, Virginia where monkeys were being transported from the Philippines to a monkey house. Some of the monkeys started to drop dead for some unknown reason, so Dan Dalgard, the veterinarian who cared for the monkeys, contacted the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to help diagnose the case. Dr. Peter Jahlring, who was a part of the USAMRIID institute, tested the blood of the monkeys. To his horror it came up positive for Ebola Zaire, the deadliest of the strains of Ebola. This caused a panic in him of which he rushed to his head leader and told him about it. No one wanted an outbreak to happen of Ebola Zaire so the C.D.C. and the army banded together to try and stop this horrific disease from spreading. Dalgard turned the monkey house over to them in which they terminated all the monkeys and bleached and scrubbed…
When an infection does occur in humans, the virus can be spread in several ways to others. Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth) with…
The ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest outbreak of ebola ever recorded. The first documented infected area started in Guinea and now has spread from “Guinea to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal and killed more than 2,000 people” (ABC) This is a strikingly scary topic in the news today due to the virus’s rapid infection rate and lack of a cure. “ABC World News,” and “The Guardian” both inform us of current infection rate statistics documented by the WHO (World Health Organization) and what countries are currently trying to help. This information is causing wide spread panic throughout the infected regions and the world…
The Ebola virus was first discovered in the year 1976 in Africa. Since then, there have been…
What: Ebola is a severe and often fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys and chimpanzees) caused by the Ebola virus; characterized by high fever and severe internal bleeding. It can be spread from person to person and is largely limited to Africa. Ebola has taken well over 4,000 lives and now officials are saying that a better fatality rate estimate would be about 10,000. Ebola kills, on average, 50%-90% of its victims.…
The whole world is at edge knowing that Ebola is a very lethal virus and it is very tough to treat and cure an infected person. But it has been seen that in countries were level of development is higher and health care is easily reached this disease can be fought.…
As everyone in the nation and around the world knows, our heath and security is being threatened by a microscopic molecule, Ebola. Ebola is a virus that is spread through the contact of human to human body fluids. It is a very infectious disease as seen in mainly West Africa. As of now, in a census done by the Worlds Health Organization, 5,177 people have died in that area of the world as of November 11, 2014. The virus is the worst in West Africa but it has spread to other parts of the world including America. From a biological basis the virus is remarkable. Ebola, when it invades your body, shuts down the immune system using a basic protein. After the immune system is suppressed, Ebola then attacks your bodies’ connective tissues called collagen. Collagen holds all organs in place and without it the virus digests your internal structures. To most people, this process sounds obscure but to me learning about these aspects of our world is entertaining rather than boring.…
The plague, which is caused by Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative rod-shaped, non-motile, non-sporulating bacterium has a great historical significance. Plague is a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans by rodents (e.g., rats, mice, ground squirrels). Fleas that live on the rodents can transmit the bacteria to humans, who then suffer from the bubonic form of plague. The bubonic form may progress to the septicemic and pneumonic forms. Pneumonic plague would be the predominant form having potential to be used as a BW, due to its ease of aerosol dissemination (Heat et al, 1998).…