FREE ESSAY ON EBOLA: A HARBINGER OF THE END OF THE WORLD

EBOLA: A HARBINGER OF THE END OF THE WORLD

English Honors
Rewrite #2
Ebola: A Harbinger of the End of the World?
Several years ago, a virus which originated in Africa swept the entire world killing
millions. This virus is the commonly known HIV virus, the virus which causes the fatal
AIDS disease. In the 1950's after virologists began the classification of viruses,
isolated cases of what are called hot viruses began springing up around the world. Most
of the deadly viruses were hemorrhagic fever viruses. Some different forms of hemorrhagic
viruses are Hantaviruses, Arenaviruses, Flaviviruses, Bunyaviruses, and one of the most
dangerous types of viruses, the filovirus. If one of these viruses, especially a
filovirus such as Ebola, were to mutate it could concievalby be the end human existance
on the planet.
The first of the filoviruses was seen around 1967, identified as Marburg. It killed seven
laboratory workers in Germany who were handling monkey blood. The next major filovirus
emersion was in 1976. This virus was a more severe virus, Ebola Sudan. It swept across
N'zara and Maridi in Sudan. That same year, a strand of Ebola called Ebola Zaire, killed
nearly three-hundred people in Yambuku, Zaire. In 1976 Sudan was again hit by Ebola
Sudan. More recently, in 1995 Ebola killed more than 200 people in Zaire. Surprisingly,
Ebola has reached the United States before. In 1989, Ebola surfaced in a monkey house in
Reston, Virginia. The strand of Ebola was called Ebola Reston. It seemed to be airborne,
yet harmless to humans. This strain of Ebola was brought to the United States through the
trading of monkeys for scientific purposes. (Johnson, as cited in Le Guenno,1995)
Although it may not look like Ebola has done a lot of damage to the human race, take into
consideration all of the viruses which are slightly less deadly than Ebola. Arenaviruses
alone have killed more than one-hundred fifty people throughout the world in the last
forty years. In two outbreaks, Rift Valley Fever, a Bunyavirus, infected nearly a quarter
of a million people and 1000 of those infected died. Flaviruses and Hantaviruses have
swept across most of Asia infecting millions of people for the last one-thousand years.
It should be apparent that these viruses spread easier than Ebola but are not as deadly.
Therefore, if one of these viruses was to mutate into a virus with a mortality rate
similar to Ebola, it could put a dent in society. (Johnson, 1995)
Currently Ebola is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids from an infected victim. For
example, a doctor by the name of Sheth Musoke who worked in a Nairobi hospital in 1980,
contracted Marburg when he was splashed with blood and vomit from a dying victim of
Marburg. He was lucky enough to survive his ordeal with Marburg, for Marburg only has a
twenty-five percent mortality rate.
Most outbreaks of hemmorahagic fever viruses are triggered by the disruption of nature.
For instance, in 1989, in a small Venezualian community cleared a forest to make way for
more housing and commercial space. Within weeks Guarnarito, a Arenavirus, infected nearly
one-hundred people in the town due to a fine dust of contaminated wood which settled over
the town. Although most damage to the environment is brought on by humans, in 1993, after
heavy snowfall and torrential rains Sin Nombre, a Hantavirus, broke out in New Mexico,
Colorado, and Nevada. With the extra rain and snow, grain crops flourished, but along
with the grain came the deer mouse, a natural host of Sin Nombre. Sin Nombre infected
one-hundred forteen people and killed fifty-eight. Some Hemorrhagic Fever viruses, mainly
Bunyaviruses, are carried by mosquitoes. If a dam is built and the water level rises
mosquito populations flourish. The action of damming a river caused an outbreak of Rift
Valley fever, in 1970. Nearly 600 people died in that outbreak, and almost all of them
were bitten by mosquitoes. It is not likely for Ebola to become transmitted by mosquitoes
for they do not contain the appropriate proteins for Ebola to flourish. Also, if a
mosquito was infected with Ebola it would die within hours due to its small size.
So far Ebola has mutated into many different strains. Originally Ebola mutated from
Marburg, another filovirus. From Ebola came Ebola Zaire, then Ebola Sudan, and finally
Ebola Reston. Ebola is prone to mutate in the near future because the replication process
from cell to cell happens so quickly. When a virus replicates itself, the virus first
unwraps itself sorting its seven proteins and its RNA. Then the replication protein
starts its job. This protein is dependent on RNA for copying cells. The RNA uses a sort
of template to write each of the genes into another RNA message which then tells the host
cell to synthesize a specific viral protein. After the cell has made the seven different
needed proteins, the RNA copies the entire strand of proteins creating an entire template
for a viral cell. New genes are then produced, and proteins wrap themselves around the
genes. Then the new viral cell immediately leaves the host cell. (Crusberg and Crowley,
1995)
Unlike other viruses, Ebola does not sit around in the host cell swapping chromosomes
until each viral cell has the appropriate chromosomes. Instead, Ebola immediately leaves
the cell. Compared to other viruses Ebola is roughing the duplication process so that it
can duplicate itself nearly twice as fast. Since the replication process happens so fast
the RNA does not have a chance to check the new viral cell it has made; it simply sends
the new viral cell off to infect other cells. If the RNA has made a mistake on one single
strand of protein the virus could be changed immensely, causing a new strain of the
virus. (Crusberg and Crowley, 1995)
Every different virus has different proteins and replicates itself differently. When
looked at under an electron microscope the viruses vary greatly in appearance. Many
viruses are named for their shape as seen under a microscope. For instance filoviruses
were named becuase of their filamentous apperance. Such as:
Ebola, filovirus Lassa, arenavirus
Encephalitis, hantavirus Yellow fever, flavivirus
If a change made the virus airborne, the world population could be decimated. Ebola could
then be transported through the air. If one person in Africa was infected with the virus
and he got onto a plane flying to America, he would most likely infect every passenger
and crew member on the plane. The people on the plane would not realize they were
infected for several days. The infected people would then walk through the airport
infecting nearly every person they passed. The people in the airport who caught the virus
from the original plane of people would then get onto planes going to many different
locations throughout the world. Each infected person who got onto a different plane would
in turn infect nearly the entire plane. If a flight's destination was France, a plane
full of people infected with Ebola would be traveling throughout France infecting every
person they either talked to or breathed on. If this process was to continue worldwide,
the well being of every person in the world would be jeopardized due to one single
person.
Hypothetically speaking, if the virus was to reach all corners of the earth infecting
every person as it went, the world's population would drop to a mere 500- million, but
the virus would still be lurking among the surviving waiting to strike again. If it was
to strike again in the same intensity the world population would decrease to 50 million.
It should now be apparent that if Ebola or a similar virus was to mutate into an airborne
virus the entire population of the world would be at risk. In the past, many have died
from similar viruses and it is probable that as our population continues to grow and we
disrupt nature by deforestation and similar activities a more lethal virus will emerge.
It is possible that Ebola and other viruses are just a warning from Mother Nature that we
are overstepping our boundaries and we are not the most powerful force on the planet.
Addendum: On December twelvth in Liberia the New York times reported that four people who
had close contact with a man who caried the Ebola virus had broken out with symptoms of
Ebola. They believe this could be the start of a new outbreak. Is this the beginning---of
the end?
Bibliography
Axton, Miles (1995). Regulations of a Runaway Replicator.
Netscape, Address Unknown. Pages 1 and 2.
Crowley-John,B.S and Crusberg-Ted,PhD (1995). Ebola and Marburg Viruses: Genomic
Structure, Comparitive and Moleculare Biology.
Netscape, Address Unknown. Pages 1 and 2.
Author Unknown(1995). Emerging and Re-Emerging Viruses: An Essay.
Netscape, Adress Unknown. Pages 1-3.
Le Guenno, B.(1995, October). Emerging Viruses.
Scientific American, pp. 56-64.