The Ebola Virus

[BombFanatic]

Why is it so deadly. What vital organs does it attack. I want to know!

 

 

Thanks

 

---Diego

[herpguy]

I'm not entirely sure, but the virus may attack the kidney and liver.

 

Try a google search.

[Rakdos]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola

[rhiannon]

ebola causes all the organs to shut down and melt causing you to bleed from all available openings.

[mr d]

hello

 

ebola is a hemoragic (hope i spelled that right), hemo relating to blood. a main side effect of the virus is that it causes hemoraging (bleeding) in soft tissue. soft tissue includes your major organs. virus easily spread through out the blody in the circulator-blood system, and when it invades an organ quickly attacks it and internal bleeding begins. this is bad.

 

mr d

[BombFanatic]

So you bleed to death?

[mr d]

hello

 

no you do not usually bleed to death. the hemorraging destroys the organ's ability to function, and they begin shutting down.

 

mr d

[prion]

basically your insides turn to mush

[BombFanatic]

Thats gotta suck. But how come people in the U.S. have gotten it if it originated in Africa.

[mr d]

hello

 

why worry about a virus in africa? suggest watching a movie from a few years ago called 'outbreak' with dustin hoffman.

science is not quite right, but will give you a peek at why people are concerned whenever an 'outbreak' happens.

 

mr d

[xDiViNiTix]

if u wanna learn about ebola, i suggest reading the book The Hot Zone...it tells u everything u need to kno about the ebola basically...and its effects and everything...its a GREAT book to read and i definitely recommend it to those with curious minds...

[raptor]

I think the virus attacks endothelial cells that line blood vessels, causing the bleeding.

[Bettina]

if u wanna learn about ebola, i suggest reading the book The Hot Zone[/u']...it tells u everything u need to kno about the ebola basically...and its effects and everything...its a GREAT book to read and i definitely recommend it to those with curious minds...

 

It was the scariest book I ever read in my life....

 

Bee

[Tearfeather]

The ''good'' thing in Ebola virus is that it has very short incubation time, and killes its host very fast.

This facts help to prevent the epidemic.

[SkepticLance]

To quote the Wiki reference posted by cat.

 

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is potentially lethal and encompasses a range of symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, general body pain, internal and external bleeding, and fever. Mortality rates are generally high, ranging from 50% - 90%, with the cause of death usually due to hypovolemic shock or organ failure.

 

It is also worth noting that the probable carrier is bats, and possibly the very common fruit bat. Outbreaks appear kind of 'out of the blue' with no warning. It may be due to a person killing a fruitbat for food, and getting bat blood in contact with an open wound. Once one person goes down, it is easily transmitted to others.

 

This makes it hard to control. As long as there are bats flying around, there will be Ebola.

[antimatter]

I'm not entirely sure what organs it attacks, but if you want to a read a particularily disturbing and informative book on the subject, I can recommend 'The Hot Zone' by Richard Preston.

I read the book in 4th grade, and have been traumatized by it ever since.

[ecoli]

That book was already suggested in this thread... 5 months ago.

[John Cuthber]

"why worry about a virus in africa?"

Because it's about 8 hours away by airplane. I hope that was a rhetorical question.

[antimatter]

Ah I'm sorrry, I must have missed it, my bad...