- [Angeli Gabriel] Blood
clots begin to form,
internal organs begin to fail,
and in a matter of days, the
body hemorrhages and dies.
Terrors all caused by a
nightmare come to life.
Ebola is a rare but
extremely dangerous disease.
It's classified as one of
the most lethal diseases
on the planet with a
fatality rate of up to 90%.
Ebola is caused by six species of virus
with four known to cause
sickness in humans,
and each is named after the
locations of their outbreaks.
The first known species
was Zaire ebolavirus
discovered in 1976 near
Zaire's Ebola River,
a river fated to become the
namesake of all Ebola viruses.
Like all viruses, Ebola viruses infect
and feed off of their hosts
starting on a microscopic level.
The viruses, which are
string-like structures,
contain genetic information
in the form of ribonucleic acid, or RNA.
Encasing the RNA are layers of proteins.
The proteins on the outermost
layer are highly versatile,
capable of changing shape and binding
to different types of cells within a host.
When binding occurs, the Ebola
virus fuses with a host cell,
allowing the virus' RNA
to infiltrate the cell
and to replicate the virus from within.
This infection quickly spreads
to countless cells throughout the body,
resulting in some of the most
terrifying symptoms known to man.
Within eight to 10 days, those
infected by the Ebola virus
may experience symptoms
drastically ranging in severity
from fevers to diarrhea and vomiting
to internal and external
bleeding, often from the eyes.
While outbreaks have been caused
by multiple species of Ebola virus,
the strain with the highest fatality rate
was the first to be
discovered, Zaire ebolavirus.
In 2014, it caused the most
severe outbreak in history,
sweeping through western Africa
and resulting in over 11,000 deaths,
more than all earlier Ebola
outbreaks put together.
At this point, no cure for Ebola exists.
Plus, the communities
most likely to be affected
do not have sufficient
access to healthcare.
In the mean time, international
efforts are being made
to develop and test vaccines that could
potentially stop the
disease once and for all.
(somber music)
