Ebola Support Group

Ebola is a virus of the Filoviridae family which causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever, a fatal disease in humans. The virus comes from the Filoviridae family, of which Marburg virus is also a member. The natural host of the virus, probably an animal that can carry the virus without experiencing symptoms of infection, is unknown. Two candidate vectors are fruit bats and non-human primates. The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), near the first epidemics.

It is traditional to name viral species (strains, subtypes) after the locations where they were first discovered. The first documented outbreak of Ebola—in Zaïre and Sudan in 1976—resulted in the virus being named for a tributary of the Congo River so that it might represent both outbreaks. Two species were identified in 1976: Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) and Sudan Ebola virus (SEBOV) with case fatality rates of 83% and 54% respectively. A third strain, Reston Ebola virus (REBOV), was discovered in November 1989 in a group of monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) imported from the Philippines to the Hazleton Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston, Virginia (USA).

Further outbreaks have occurred in Zaïre/Democratic Republic of the Congo (1995 and 2003), Gabon (1994, 1995 and 1996), Uganda (2000), Angola (2005) and Sudan again (2004). A new species was identified from a single human case in Côte d'Ivoire in 1994, at first named Ivory Coast ebolavirus (ICEBOV) and later changed to Tai Forest ebolavirus (TFEBOV) at an unknown time. In 2003, 120 people died in Etoumbi, Republic of Congo, which has been the site of four recent outbreaks, including one in May 2005.

Of the approximate 1,500 identified Ebola cases worldwide, over 80% of the patients have died. Despite considerable effort by the World Health Organization, no animal or arthropod reservoir capable of sustaining the virus between outbreaks has been identified, although a role for fruit or insectivorous bats is often postulated. BBC News reported that researchers writing in the December 1, 2005, issue of Nature had identified evidence of symptomless Ebola infection in three species of fruit bats from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon.

Symptoms are varied and often appear suddenly. Initial symptoms include: high fever (at least 38.8° C, 101° F), severe headache, muscle/joint/abdominal pain, severe weakness and exhaustion, sore throat, nausea, and dizziness. Before an epidemic is suspected, these early symptoms are easily mistaken for malaria, typhoid fever, dysentery, influenza, or various bacterial infections, which are all far more common. Ebola then goes on to cause bleeding both internally and externally from any opening in the body: Dark or bloody stools and diarrhea, vomiting blood, red eyes from swollen blood vessels, red spots on the skin from subcutaneous bleeding, and bleeding from the nose, mouth, rectum, genitals and needle puncture sites. Other secondary symptoms include low blood pressure (less than 90mm Hg) and a fast but weak pulse, eventual organ damage including the kidney and liver by co-localized necrosis, and proteinuria (the presence of proteins in urine). The span of time from onset of symptoms to death (from shock due to blood loss and/or organ failure) is usually between 7 and 14 days. By the second week, patients will either defeveresce or undergo systemic multiorgan failure.