Breif History on Ebola

HISTORY OF EBOLA

In 1976, the first documented cases of the Ebola virus was detected East-Africa. Ebola named after the Ebola River in Zaire infected over two hundred and eighty four people with a mortality rate of fifty three percent. A few months later mores cases of the Ebola virus begin to appear, neighboring countries such as Yambuku in Zaire. However in Yambuku scientist discovered that the Ebola virus had mutated to an even deadlier strain (EBOZ), which infected over three hundred and eighteen people, with the most deadliest mortality rate of eighty eight percent. Numerous attempts and tremendous efforts were made by researches to find the reservoir of the virus, reluctantly it was never identified.

In 1989, 1990 and 1996 monkeys were imported into Reston, Virginia, from primate facilities in Mindanao, Philippines. These monkeys carried the third strain of the virus EBOR, infecting 4 human cases in the US. Fortunately, the few people who were infected with EBOR (seroconverted) never developed Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF). However the US wasn’t the only country infected with the Ebola virus during this time period. In 1992 infected monkeys were also shipped to research facilities in Sienna, Italy, making the virus and international cause of concern. ).

The last known strain of Ebola, Ebola Cote d'Ivoire (EBO-CI) was discovered in 1994 when a female ethnologist performing a necropsy on a dead chimpanzee from the Tai Forest, accidentally infected herself during the necropsy. Lastly, in 2008 to 2009 the Ebola virus was yet again detected, this time the virus changed host from human and monkeys to pigs. Of this incident six farm workers were diagnosed with the virus and the pigs that did not fall sick were kept to develop antibodies in attempts to find a cure for the virus.

In conclusion of the 38 years since the virus was first discovered, the major outbreaks of the virus were documented as follows: 6 times in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 3 times in...