Origin of Ebola Virus The first reported case of the deadly virus came in 1976 and it is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo which was where it was discovered. At the time, the area where the disease was spotted was officially recognized as Zaire. The virus has since spread throughout the region. Non-human primates, like gorillas and chimpanzees, have been cited by the World Health Organization as possible infection sources for humans, but experts have realized that they are not the source of the problem. The apes have been deemed “accidental hosts,” meaning that they catch the disease and then pass it along but are not the initial “reservoir” source that produces the virus. There are five different strains of the disease, four of which can spread to humans while the fifth only affects primates. Where Have There Been Outbreaks All of the known cases involving human infection have been limited to Africa, with reported infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Liberia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Gabon and the Ivory Coast. South Africa has only been connected as a result of the disease being imported and there were laboratory contamination cases in England and Russia. Source: AbcNews
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:16:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015