It’s the worst ebola virus outbreak in history. West Africa is in a state of panic and paranoia. More than 1,201 people have been infected and 672 have died since the outbreak started more than four months ago. With up to a 90-percent fatality rate, the virus terrorizes residents of countries where breakouts occur, and terrifies the rest of us worried that it will spread. Preventing its spread is the primary goal of medical personnel. Here are 17 things you didn’t know about the Ebola Virus, from its first cases in Central Africa, to the current red-alert situation, to treatment and containment methods, to hopeful signs for future prevention. -
Biology Ebola is categorized as a member of the filoviridae family of viruses, one of three negative-stranded RNA viruses (Marburg, Ebola, and Reston) that often take on a “U” shape. Although it’s not yet known how it enters the cell, once inside, the RNA of the ebola virus is transcribed and replicated inside the cytoplasm, thereby infecting the cell. The Niemann-Pic C1 (NPC1) is a cholesterol transporter protein that is required for the ebola virus to permeate a cell, infect it, and replicate. The mutation of NPC1 is believed by many scientists to be key to finding a cure — perhaps through its mutation. As viruses are acellular, they do not replicate into other cells, but use the interior makeup of the host cell to multiply and assemble within the cell.
