I will be researching Ebola virus, and I will investigate in depth on this virus. As we saw in the CellsAlive Interactive the Ebola virus is a 100,000 times zoom for the human eye to see it. To start I will go in depth of exactly what a virus is and how it spreads. A virus is a tiny particle, virus particles are about one-millionth of an inch (17 to 300 nanometers) long. Viruses are about a thousand times smaller than bacteria, and bacteria are much smaller than most human cells. Viruses are so small that most cannot be seen with a light microscope, but must be observed with an electron microscope.
Viruses enter into the body through your cells, and then they multiply. The virus is a type of fever. The Ebola virus was first identified in the western equatorial part of Sudan and in a nearby region of Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. Ebola virus is one of two members of a family of RNA viruses known as Filoviridae. There are four identified subtypes of Ebola virus. Three of the four have caused disease in humans: Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast. The fourth Ebola virus subtype, Ebola-Reston, has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans.
The symptoms of this virus include: Arthritis, Backache (low-back pain), Chills, Diarrhea, Fatigue, Fever, Headache, weakness/discomfort, Nausea, Sore throat, and vomiting. After a person becomes infected with the Ebola virus, it begins to multiply within the body. On average, Ebola virus symptoms begin four to six days after infection. After the virus starts to spread the incubation stage starts and can be as short as 2 days or as long as 21 days. A rash, hiccups, red eyes, and internal and external bleeding may be seen in some patients. On dark skin, the rash is often not recognized until it begins to peel.
Many patients suffer from the symptoms, and they can be very harsh on the patients. The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons. Transmission of the Ebola virus has also occurred by handling sick or dead infected wild animals. The transition of the virus happens as if any other virus but it just all occurs in the blood passages of the human’s body. It enters in usually through the blood then moves on to the blood cells, where it goes into its duplicate stage. By this I mean that the virus spreads around and makes more virus particles and gathers together throughout the body.
For people with Ebola, treatment involves providing relief of Ebola symptoms while the body fights the infection. This type of treatment is known as supportive care. Ebola treatment can involve the use of intravenous fluids, many types of antibiotics, and oxygen. Treatment may also include the use of medications to control fever, help the blood clot, and maintain blood pressure. There is not really a long term plan; the patient just stays on the treatment until he/she dies or lives. The treatment may sound harsh on the patients, but that is how it is.
Even with such supportive care, death occurs in 50 to 90 percent of people with Ebola. As the Ebola virus is of the most deadly illnesses known to humankind, Ebola virus patients have little chance of surviving. The definitive prognosis of the Ebola virus is death, and as many as 90% of people with the disease die from the shock that it causes to the body. This could be the reason to the fact that there is no known cure for the infection and because typical antibiotics do not work to fight it, or it could be because of the devastating effects the virus has on the body.
Many people are more-likely to die due to this scary, human-killing virus. I think that the virus will continue to grow and, become more widely spread around the world. Scientists are working on building up the medicines for this virus, but the progress is slow. I think that maybe one day scientists will find a cure for this horrible virus. This virus looks like it may not be getting anywhere for the next few years. I say this because it has killed many people so far, (and in the long run) and it just has not progressed.
I hope that the people encountered with helping fight this virus are looking fast because many people are dying. Overall the Ebola virus is a deadly virus in which takes a long time to treat. There are no cures and it can kill thousands of people. That it being so small humans cannot be aware of that a virus is taking over their bodies. One of the most interesting things I have learned through this essay is that the Ebola virus has a 100,000 times zoomed in order for a human eye to see it. I wish the best for the suffering patients with the Ebola virus. *I got an A+ on this paper*!