Zaire ebolavirus

Zaire ebolavirus (also known as EBOV) is one of the five known viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. It is the causative agent of Ebola virus disease, a highly lethal condition that has caused several outbreaks in humans since its discovery in 1976. The virus is named after the Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where it was first identified.

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Ebola Virus - Electron Micrograph

History

The Zaire ebolavirus was first identified in 1976 during two simultaneous outbreaks in Zaire and Sudan. The virus was named after the country where the first investigated cases occurred. The initial outbreaks had case fatality rates of 88% and 53%, respectively, marking the Zaire ebolavirus as the most deadly of the Ebolavirus species.

Ebola virus virion

Virology

Zaire ebolavirus is a member of the Filoviridae family, which also includes the genera Marburgvirus and Cuevavirus. The virus is filamentous in shape, and its genome is a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA. The virus is known to infect humans and non-human primates, causing severe disease characterized by hemorrhagic fever.

Transmission and symptoms

Zaire ebolavirus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. The virus is often spread through direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials contaminated with these fluids.

Symptoms of Ebola virus disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

Prevention and treatment

Prevention measures include prompt and safe burial of the dead, identifying people who may have been in contact with someone infected with Ebola, monitoring the health of contacts for 21 days, and the importance of separating the healthy from the sick.

There is currently no licensed treatment proven to neutralize the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development. An experimental Ebola vaccine proved highly protective against Zaire ebolavirus in a major trial in Guinea in 2015.