EBOLA!
Doesn't the name just instill fear in you? No, well, it will after you read this.
IN PROGRESS
HEY! Give me time to bring my resources together! But, until then, read this report I did on it when I was in 8th grade. It's not recent, since I wrote it in 1997, but it will still help. If you want more knowledge, try going to Outbreak! It's a cool site. You have to register, but it's free!
EBOLA
� � Ebola. You can't see it, but you can die from it. Yes, Ebola, is a tropical disease that is caused by
a virus. This disease is highly infectious. It can only be studied in a maximum containment laboratory in a
biosafety level four (BL-4) area. The only places that have a maximum containment lab in the United States
are Fort Dettrick, Maryland and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. USAMRIID,
or the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, also contains a BL-4
environment.
� � Ebola is the second most lethal disease in the world today. Ebola is characterized by a high
temperature over 102.1 degrees Farenheit, frequent vomiting of black, digested blood (red in a few cases),
and diarrheal emmissions sprinkled with blood. The blood in the emmissions is red only when near death.
More of Ebola's symptoms are epistaxis, or nosebleeds, chest and abdominal pains, and a state of stupor, or
partial loss of consciousness. There is exhaustion in the victim and a heaviness in their joints. There is then
a rapid evolution toward death, after about three days from a state of general health.
� � There were four epidemics, or the spread of a disease from one region to another. One epidemic
was in Yambuku, Zaire in September, 1976. Another occured in Maridi, Sudan in October, 1976. The third
epidemic was in Reston, Virginia in 1989 and the last was in Kickwit, Zaire in 1995.
� � For Ebola, there is no host. A host is an animal that carries and transmits the disease without
getting the disease. Bats have been tested and been found to be Ebola-antibody-positive. Ebola Zaire and
Ebola Sudan are transmitted by physical contact and sexual activity. Ebola Reston is transmitted by physical
contact, sexual activity, and the air. Because it is transmitted in the air, it is airborne, which means the virus
can live in the air.
� � The fatality percent, or the percentage of people out of one hundred that will die from the disease,
is 93%. In other words, if 1,000 people get Ebola, 930 will die and 70 will live, if 100 people get it, 93 will
die and 7 will live, and so on. The fatality percent varies among the different outbreaks, therefore the fatality
percent of Ebola is based on an average of all the outbreaks.
� � Ebola has one relative in its viral family: Marburg. Marburg originated in Marburg, Germany in
1967. Ebola and Marburg are located the virus family called the filoviruses. They are shaped like a
shepherd's crook.
� � There are three strains of Ebola. Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Reston. Ebola Zaire is the
most lethal. Victims of the Sudanese strain didn't die as much as victims of the Zairean strain, although the
Sudanese strain is more infectious. Ebola Reston is not lethal or infectious to humans although it is always
lethal to monkeys.
� � The index case, or the first case, in the Yambuku outbreak was Mabalo Lokela. The index case for
the Maridi epidemic is unknown. The index case in the Reston outbreak , which was really an endemic, or a
disease confined to a certain area , was a macaque, or monkey.
� � The Yambuka outbreak, as of November 6, 1976, had 358 cases. Of those cases, 325 were fatal.
As of November 9, there was an unknown number of cases and an additional 136 fatalities.
� � Ebola's origin is a very interesting one. It started on August 26, 1976. Mabalo "Antoine" Lokela
came into the Yambuku Mission Hospital in Zaire complaining of symptoms similar to malaria. The Sisters
of the Sacred Heart of Mary treated him by injecting Lokela with a drug. The mission only had five
syringes. After each use, they set the needle in water and rotated between the five. Two days later, a man
from Yandangi, a neighboring village, went to the hospital complaining of diarrhea. Sisters Beata, Myriana,
and Edmonda physically helped the man into one of the 120 beds, all that the hospital had, and treated him
for diarrhea. On September 1, Lokela returned to the hospital with a temperature of over 100 degrees F.
While being treated, 16-year old Yombe Ngongo laid resting after being injected to treat her severe anemia.
Lizenge Embale, 25, was recuperating from malaria. Tending to her was her husband, Ekombe Mongua.
Angi Dobola was recovering from a hernia operation while his wife, Sebo Dombe was complaining of
exhaustion. On September 5, Lokela returned critically ill. Yombe Ngongo checked out on August 30 and
was then fighting for her life. At her side was her anxious 9-year old sister, Euza, feeling her own
symptoms. Embale, Mongua, Dobola, and Dombe were all also hemorrhaging. The Sisters only knew of
Lokela's case. On September 8, 1976, Lokela died. A day before Lokela's death Ngongo died and on
September 9, her sister, Euza, died. Lizenge and Ekombe died that week. In a matter of days, Lokela's
mother, his sister, Gizi, and his wife, Sophie, all became sick. Sophie and Gizi survived that devastating
September, but his mother died. On September 20, Lokela's mother-in-law died. Sophie's baby also died.
In all, 21 friends of Lokela became sick and 18 of them died. Soon the Yambuku hospital was filled with
"The Fever", as it was called. On September 12, Sister Beata developed symptoms of the Fever. Bumba
Zone Medical Director, Dr. Ngoi Mushola, went to Yambuku on September 15. Two days later Mushola
rushed back to Bumba to report his findings to Kinshasa. On September 19, Sister Beata died. Kinshasa
federal authorities dispatched two professors from the National University of Zaire to Yambuku. The two
professors were microbiologist Muyembe Tamfum Lintak and epidemiologist Omombo. They reached
Yambuku on September 23, intending to stay for six days. They cut their visit short after just 24 hours. Just
before the two-man team arrived, mission nurse Aname Ehumba died. While the team was conducting their
research, Sister Myrian got sick. The team hadn't taken Mushol's report seriously, so they didn't bring any
protective clothes. Sister Romano, a Sister from the mission in neighboring Lisala, arrived during the day to
replace Beata. While the team inspected victims, male nurse Sukato Manzomba, 24, became sick. The team
agreed to take Sister Myriam, Father Augustin (who had traveled with Likeal and was running a fever) and
Sister Edmonda (as an accompanying nurse) back to Kinshasa for study. At Kinshasa's N'djibi Airport, the
group was abandoned by the professors. The three who were abandoned took a taxi to Ngaliema Hospital,
Zaire's premier teaching facility. The Ngaliema staff didn't know what microorganism caused the Yambukan
group's illness, so they placed them in an isolation ward. A nurse, Mayinga N'Seka, offered her assistance.
Dr. Lusakumuna took charge of the case. On September 30, Sister Myriana died in the Kinshasa hospital.
The Yambuku hospital was closed to all but the remaining "Fever" patients. Sister Romana became sick.
Father Germain Lootens was also stricken. On October 2, Sister Romana and Father Lootens died. A team
of medical experts had been assembled. The team arrived shortly after the death of Father Lootens. The
team put Yambuku under a strict quarantine. Sister Genoveva put gauze around the periphery of the
mission and suspended signs warning of death. A large bell was hung at the mission door for the people to
ring. The three-man team of experts consisted of a Zairean health official, a Belgian medical doctor and a
French medical mission director. On October 13, Sister Edmondo died. On October 14, the first dose of
Marburg antiserum was given. Marburg is a disease related to Ebola that was found in Germany in 1967.
The team of medical experts used this antiserum to try to stop Ebola. This particular outbreak, which is the
origin of Ebola, did finally stop, but the virus did not die.
� � The Ebola virus has had several outbreaks in different places. We do know where it started, but
do we know what started it? No, we do not. And we do not know what will end it either. The outbreaks
did end, but a cure was never found. Many outbreaks have occurred since the first, and most likely will
again.
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