Ebola Research Paper

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Many people are worried that the recent outbreak of the virus known as Ebola will become a pandemic. If this happened, the federal government will work to identify the cause and create a vaccine to stop it. A pandemic is a global outbreak of a disease or diseases. It occurs when a virus emerges among humans and can be easily transmitted and cause serious illness. It is said that the most dangerous diseases such as Ebola, Marburg, AIDS, SARS, and avian influenza have derived from animals. In “Spillover,” Eric M. Leroy, a doctor, states, “We don’t know if there’s direct transmission from bats to humans. We only know there is direct transmission from dead great apes to humans” (Brown 116). If a pandemic occurs, it is important to know the …show more content…

There are five different strains of the disease, however; only four can spread to humans. The first reported case of Ebola was in 1976. It occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was named after the Ebola River. Researchers strongly believe that the virus is animal borne, but no one really knows. When Ebola invades a human being, it incubates for a period of seven to ten days on average, and then explodes with catastrophic force (Hammer 1). “It becomes an arms race,” says the investigating team’s Brian Bird, veterinary medical officer and an expert in pathogens at the CDC. “The virus wants to make new copies of itself, and the human body wants to stop it from doing so. Most of the time, the virus wins” (Hammer 1). Infected cells begin producing massive amounts of cytokine, tiny protein molecules that are extensively used in intercellular communication. This overproduction of cytokine wreaks havoc on the immune system and disrupts the normal behavior of the liver, kidneys, respiratory system, skin and blood. In extreme cases, small clots form everywhere, a process known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, followed by hemorrhaging. Blood fills the intestines, the digestive tract and the bladder, spilling out of the nose, eyes and mouth. Death occurs within a week (Hammer

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