-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Reston Messenger

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ebola on the Hunt

$0.05

________________________________________________________________________________________
__
On September 9, 1989, a fully
trained soldier from USAMRIID
rushed out of the Reston Monkey
House in Virginia and vomited all
over the ground, sick with a highly
lethal agent: Ebola.

Ebola is a member of the filovirus

family and will kill its victims
through massive hemorrhaging. To
mess around with Ebola is an easy
way to die, says Peter Jahrling, a
virologist at USAMRIID
Although much research has been
going on regarding this virus, the
spread of the infection is not clearly
known. It has been found that a
strain of the virus is airborne, but for
most of the strains of the virus, Ebola
Sudan and Ebola Zaire, it is strictly
bloodborne. The virus kills its host
so quickly that, for the most part, it
doesn't spread very far.
Right now members of the CDC,
the Centers for Disease Control, and
USAMRIID, the United States Army

Infectious Diseases, are researching

this virus, trying to develop
antibodies for a vaccine to be
administered to people in need.

According to the data provided by

USAMRIID, about 90 percent of
people infected with Ebola will die.
There are other strains of Ebola that
have higher death rates and ones that
have lower death rates. For example,
Ebola Zaire has a 90 percent rate.
Whereas, Ebola Sudan has a 50
percent death rate.
USAMRIID is an army-run
medical institute that focuses on
curing and preventing diseases that
US soldiers could contract. They are
well funded and, as a result, are
prepared with the equipment and
knowledge to research and fight a
virus anywhere. USAMRIID proved
their capability to the world when
they flew to Mount Elgon in Uganda,
Africa and began investigating the
whereabouts of Ebola and where
it originated from.
The scientists working with Ebola

there is a breach in the suit. They

must wear full body suits to protect
themselves from the possibly
airborne pathogen.
Monkeys used for research are
kept in a "monkey house." Here
veterinarians try their best to keep
them in perfect health.
Unfortunately, sometimes viruses
from where primates are captured lie
dormant within the monkeys and
travel with them to their new home.
In the viruses new home it begins to
rapidly replicate itself and then
spreads to the other monkeys. This
results in a large quantity of monkeys
infected in a short amount of time.

Right now the scientists from

USAMRIID are at the Reston
Monkey House euthanizing the
animals with the least amount of pain
and suffering. Simultaneously, they
are collecting samples of the
monkeys blood to bring back to their
research facilities so they can learn
more about the disease.

Medical Research Institute of

are wearing highly protective lowpressure suits that release air if

-Stephen Harmon