EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE

Abby Craft
What I Knew/ What I Wanted to Know?
Based on previous knowledge from the news, I know that Ebola is a deadly virus that
leads to internal bleeding. There are many strands of the disease and has killed many people.
There are many cases centered in Africa, mostly isolated to 4 countries and not wide spreading.
Also, there were a few cases in the United States from people traveling across the Atlantic from
Africa.
In Texas, there was one man that came back from travelling and died while being
quarantined in his home. There were another pair of cases in Washington D.C. because these
doctors interacted with sick patients in Africa and travelled back to the States. Unlike other
cases, the doctors in Washington D.C. recovered with little difficulty. This is believed to have
happened because they had more care and better facilities to be treated in than those patients in
Africa.
The doctors were placed in consolidation for twenty one days and given proper treatment.
But in Africa, there are facilities that cant support all the patients so most of them will die in the
street or in their homes.
I want to research: What happens inside the body with the virus, what does the Ebola
worm look like on the inside, how do people survive Ebola, are there different strands of this
disease? (Like the common cold), are there commonalities between present and past cases of
Ebola, and who are the people that worked with Ebola when it was first discovered?

The Story of My Search

I found these sources by googling the first outbreak of Ebola to find the time and place.
With that information, I was able to research a name for the scientist who was involved in
controlling the spread. With these important facts in my brain, I was able to continue my search
for answers by looking into the different types of strains, as mentioned in an article that there
were different types in humans and animals for each village. As I was researching, there was no
information given on where the virus originated from. I don't want to know about the country
but where the virus comes from. The origin could help lead to a cure, as seen in other viruses. I
also was interested in the way the virus effects the body so I am curious as to why viruses have
more influence than proteins. Why are they able to overtake the immune system and lead to
death? Why is there in incubation period on most viruses? I have taken an interest in
microbiology, immunology, and virology. I can use these interest to find where I want to go with
my capstone project in the near future. I am very excited to start researching more topics similar
to EVD. This article I found has magnificent background research and has gotten me interested
in Ebola. My family is scared of the virus and i want to help people close to me not be afraid
and paranoid. This virus outbreak make me want to study immunology, a study of viruses in the
microbiology field. I believe that this study could be a very interesting topic in my Capestone
project.
The Search Results
The first appearance of the Ebola Virus Disease was in 1976 in Nzara, Sudan, and
Yambuku. There were 2 simultaneous outbreaks of the new disease and it happened in small
villages. Both of these outbreaks were in Africa and nobody had known what to do with what
was happening. One scientist named Peter Piot, was the first to work with Ebola. He was asked

to travel to the place of the most recent outbreak and study the disease in Zaire. Piot discovered
that the disease was mainly evident in pregnant women that had attended the same hospital.
Doctors and nurses were reusing needles that were infected with Ebola and spreading it among
the visitors of the hospital. Also, attending funerals of the dead Ebola victim can lead to a spread
of the disease. The bodies may have died from the effects the virus has on the blood cells but
that does not mean that the virus died along with the body, therefore the possibility of spread is
still high. One of the people treated during the first outbreak survived due to the treatment given
by Peter Piot. The survivors name is Sukato Mandzomba and he is still alive and well today, he
now works as a nurse in his home town of Zaire. Piot is now the founding executive director of
the UNAIDS organization.
Peter Piot worked with blood samples of victims of the disease, named after a river near
the town it was first found. He and his colleagues looked at the samples under a microscope and
saw a worm that they identified at the disease. Without a proper background knowledge of the
virus, Piot was tasked with controlling the spread of Ebola. His solution was to quarantine
anyone with symptoms or in contact with any infected citizens. This effectively controlled the
spread of Ebola in 1976. But more procedures must be taken as technology advances and a need
for a cure becomes more and more evident.
The Ebola virus disease (EVD) has five primary cases, four of which are transmitted in
humans and the other is by nonhuman primates. The disease is spread by contact of blood or
bodily fluids of infected animals and then from human to human. When inside the body, the virus
duplicates itself in massive numbers. Each of these viruses releases a protein called ebola virus
glycoprotein. This protein attaches to the cells of blood vessels and increase their permeability,
ease to let fluid flow. The vessels leaks blood which leads to a lot of internal bleeding. The Ebola

virus blocks the signaling to cells called neutrophils, which are white blood cells that are in
charge of telling the immune system to come and attack the invading species. In fact, Ebola will
infect immune cells and travel in those cells to other parts of the body including: the liver,
kidney, spleen and brain.
The Ebola virus has been out breaking in West Africa and a confirmed suspicion people
have been traveling to other countries, including the United States, while being unknowingly
infected. Ebola is a potentially fatal disease that first occurred in 1976 with 2 simultaneous
outbreaks in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. There has been a fatality rate of 90%
in this current outbreak and will potentially spread more. There is no current vaccine for the virus
but 2 possible candidates are under evaluation. The disease is not an airborne virus, like the flu,
but is transmitted through contact with infected humans, dead or alive, and wild animals. There
are five different strands of Ebola in existence right now, 4 in humans and one in nonhuman
primates like monkeys and bats. Each of these strands are apart of the Filoviridae viral family of
RNA viruses. The three named human strands are Zaire, Sudan, and Ivory Coast Ebola, each
named after the country where the strain was found. The name Ebola comes from a river near the
village of the first outbreak. The nonhuman strain is called Reston Ebola, named from the city of
Reston, VA. The largest outbreaks are known to occur when there is a new strain coming into the
picture. The Zaire strain has the highest fatality rate of any pathogenic viruses to effect humans.
Ironically, there are few people that are immune to the virus. This is because they have 2
specific genes of human leukocyte antigen-B that will fight off the virus: B*07 and B*14, the
bad genes, however are: B*67 and B*15. Another way certain people can survive is the
mutation of the NCP1 gene, which is resistant to the virus. This is rare in most people, but
common in those in Nova Scotia. The virus itself is composed of many proteins including GP, a

transmembrane protein that allows the virus to attach to other host cells. There are also human
proteins on the exterior to allow for a greater infectivity. VP40 and VP24 are matrix proteins that
form a layer beneath the membrane which is crucial for virus budding. Polynerase is another
protein present in EVD that synthesizes positive sense virus RNA. The two final minor proteins
that act as interferon antagonists and transcription activation factors are VP30 and VP35.
My Growth as a Researcher
Throughout the duration of this project, I have learned how to research well and write
papers about my research. Consequentially, I have learned that I need to plan my time more
efficiently. I have learned to write well developed paragraphs and improved my writing skills. I
learned to evaluate information on websites to determine if it is reliable. In addition to these
academic benefits, I have learned that in my future, I want to major in scientific fields of
research regarding viruses.

WORKS CITED
1. "Ebola Virus Disease." WHO. World Health Organization, Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Jan.
2015. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
2. Brown, Rob. "The Virus Detective Who Discovered Ebola." BBC News. BBC World
Service, 17 July 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine28262541
3. Chan, Amanda L. "What Actually Happens When A Person Is Infected With The
Ebola Virus." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 2 Aug. 2014. Web. 19
Jan. 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/02/ebola-symptoms-infectionvirus_n_5639456.html