EbolaDan-Thanh NguyenBiology 402March 20, 2012

EBOV is a viral hemorrhagic fever with an incubation

period of 2-21 days

Symptoms: Fever Sore throat Weakness Headache Muscle aches Diarrhea Vomiting Severe hemorrhaging

Ebola has a high case fatality ratio of 25-90%

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Ebola

Transmission occurs with close personal contact with infected individuals

Ebola has nonhuman hosts

http://www.reviews-technology.com/2010_08_24_archive.html

Candidate reservoir hosts are mammals of small body size, and

asymptomatic

http://www.mnzoo.org/faces/fruit-bat/

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/Global_EbolaOutbreakRisk_20090510.png

Ebola is in the family of filoviruses and a cousin of the Marburg Virus

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3277274/?tool=pmcentrez

Ebola virus is subdivided into five different species based on where

they were discovered

Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Sudan Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Reston Bundibugyo

Ebola is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus

http://viralzone.expasy.org/all_by_species/23.html

Ebola virus has a negative strand RNA genome

Nucleoprotein

Virion protein 35

Virion protein 40

Virion protein 30

Virion protein 24

GlycoproteinSoluble

glycoprotein

polymerase

http://viralzone.expasy.org/all_by_species/23.html

During replication, full-length positive-sense copies of the genome are synthesized

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3277274/?tool=pmcentrez

Filoviruses have broad tissue tropism but have preferred target cells

Hepatocytes Endothelial cells Dendritic cells Monocytes Macrophages

EBOV accelerates the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines

http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/nri/journal/v3/n8/full/nri1154.html#f3

http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/nri/journal/v7/n7/full/nri2098.html

Hemorrhaging is related to disseminated intravascular coagulation

(DIC) and increase in tissue factor in macrophages

http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/188/11/1618.full

There is currently no definitive vaccine for Ebola virus.

http://buquad.com/2011/10/17/bu-biolab/

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/Canadian+scientists+develop+Ebola+treatment/3083100/story.html

Resources

Dolnik, O.; L. Kolesnikova, and S. Becker. “Filoviruses: Interactions with the host cell.” Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences Vol 65. 756-776. 2008. http://www.springerlink.com/content/fk38279221156248/

“Ebola haemorrhagic fever.” World Health Organization. Dec 2011. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

“Ebola virus disease.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease Feldmann, Heinz; Steven Jones, Hans-Dieter Klenk; and Hans-Joachim Schnittler.

“Ebola virus: from discovery to vaccine.” Nature Reviews Immunology. Vol 3. 677-685 (August 2003). http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/nri/journal/v3/n8/full/nri1154.html#f3

Geisbert, Thomas et al. “Mechanisms Underlying Coagulation Abnormalities in Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Overexpression of Tissue Factor in Primate Monocytes/Macrophages is a Key Event.” Journal of Infectious Diseases. Vol 188. 1618-1629. 2003. http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/188/11/1618.full.pdf+html

Mohamadzadeh, Mansour; Leiping Chen; and Alan L. Schmaljohn. “How Ebola and Marburg viruses battle the immune system.” Nature Reviews Immunology. Vol 7. 556-567 (July 2007). http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/nri/journal/v7/n7/full/nri2098.html

Takada, Ayato. “Filovirus Tropism: Cellular Molecules for Viral Entry.” Frontiers in Microbiology. 06 February 2012. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3277274/pdf/fmicb-03-00034.pdf