I was reading PhysOrg yesterday and came across an article about the Ebola outbreak that is currently underway in western Uganda. The article is an interview with a doctor who contracted the disease from patients brought to his hospital. He survived the disease and is currently recovering. You can read the article here.
The reason the article caught my eye, is because it had Uganda in the title. A relative of mine regularly goes to Uganda on humanitarian missions. So news about Uganda always catches my attention. After reading the article I decided to find out more about the Ebola virus. Here is what I found out.
Ebola is considered to be one of the deadliest diseases in the world. So deadly that it was even investigated by both the Soviet Union and the US as a potential bio-weapon. Amazingly it was rejected by both nations because it proved to be too deadly. It killed it’s victims so quickly that it didn’t have time to spread far enough to be used as a weapon.
It was first identified in 1976 when two nearly simultaneous outbreaks happened in Sudan and Zaire. It was named after the Ebola River that is close to the first outbreak site in Zaire. So far, no one really knows where the disease comes from. It is known that it is nearly always fatal in both humans and other primates. But the carrier animal population has never been identified.
If you want to know more, follow the links below.
Wikipedia: Ebola
CDC Special Pathogens Branch: Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever
World Health Organization: Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever fact sheet
4 comments ↓
Very good that Ebola is so deadly that it can’t be used as a biological weapon
This is not the only reason: also the virulence decreases by the transmission from one human being to another, and is much reduced at the 3rd or 4th-infected person in a chain.
But it’s sad to think about it from this point of view!
In our countries people dying from e.g. influenca are many many more - and there is a vaccination available.
Today I read that in USA every year about 7 people die from pest (Black Death).
I thought it had been extincted in the whole world for many years.
But there seem to remain some infected animal-populations in a few countries.
From what I understand, the “Black Death” is relatively common among animal populations throughout the world. It is simply not that much of a danger to humans these days due to modern hygiene methods. I know that every year a few people here in the US die from it. Usually from being bitten by small rodents such as squirrels.
In Europe the “Black Death” disappeared since more than 200 years. Obviously because since 16th century the houserats were pushed away by the brown rats that have less contact with human beings.
Nowadays there are no infected animals in Europe and Australia. Some populations are known in Caucasus, in Russia, in Asia (South-East, China, Mongolia), Afrika (Sout and East), Middle- and Southamerica and in the Southwest of USA.
To Northamerica the Pest came by ship 1894 from South-Asia. The disease infected only few people - but many squirrels. Until now there remained infectious rodents.
Strange that is disappeared completely in Europe, where Millions died from it, and that i survived in America where only few people were infected.
My sister and brother-in-law work with these missionaries: http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/ They personally knew “Jonah” and worked with him. Thankfully, my sister and brother-in-law are on leave in the U.S. currently but it’s pretty scary stuff. They had been planning to head back shortly. http://calledtouganda.com
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