Original research article ebola and zika virus

 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
Ebola virus 
 
The Ebola virus causing the devastating outbreak in West 
Africa 38 years ago when it first surfaced and caused a 
mysterious illness among villagers in Zaire, now the 
Democratic Republic of Congo. The international team of 
scientists who were done with investigating that 1976 Ebola 
outbreak were shocked at the sight of the virus and the disease 
it caused. The scientists had looked at blood samples sent from 
Africa under the microscope and the virus looked like a worm 
or a long string. Once the team got on the ground in Zaire, they 
saw how rapidly the virus spread and how quickly it killed its 
victims.On 8 August 2014 the World Health Organisation 
(WHO) declared the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in 
West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International 
Concern (PHEIC). (Briand 
et al
., 2014) Ebola haemorrhagic 
fever (EHF) is caused by five genetically distinct members of 
the Filoviridae family: Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV), Sudan 
ebolavirus (SEBOV), Côte d’Ivoire ebolavirus (CEBOV), 
Bundibugyoebolavirus (BEBOV) and Reston Ebolavirus 
(REBOV). The virus causing the Zaire Ebolavirus (EBOV), 
belongs to the genus 
Ebolavirus
which together with the genus 
Marburgvirus
forms the family of the 
Filoviridae. 
 
Disease agent characteristics 
 
• Family: 
Filoviridae
; Genus: 
Ebolavirus 
• Virion morphology and size: Enveloped, helical, cross-
striated nucleocapsid, filamentous or pleomorphic 
virionsthat are flexible with extensive branching, 80 nm 
in diameter and 970-1200 nm in length 
• Nucleic acid: Linear, negative-sense, single-stranded 
RNA, ~18,900 kb in length 
• Physicochemical properties: Stable at room temperature 
and can resist desiccation; inactivated at 60°C for 30 
minutes; infectivity greatly reduced or destroyed by UV 
light and gamma irradiation, lipid solvents, b-
propiolactone, formaldehyde, sodium hypochlorite, and 
phenolic disinfectants. 
For the West Africa outbreak the total number of cases is 
subject to change due to ongoing reclassification, retrospective