Blood plague: Why is Ebola virus called "human blackboard eraser"

When it comes to SARS, I think many people still remember it vividly. During the outbreak of SARS, people all over the country were in panic. Students were forbidden to go home in colleges and universities, and they could only be active in schools. As long as someone was found to have symptoms of SARS, they would be isolated and observed, and the isolation would end after one month without symptoms. What people hear from TV broadcasts every day is the rising number of new infections and deaths due to illness. People live in fear and tread on thin ice.

SARS virus is not the first virus to cause large-scale infection in human history, nor will it be the last. Every once in a while, viruses will attack human beings and wreak havoc in the world, such as the Black Death in Europe in the Middle Ages, which killed one third of the population in Europe. Another example is the Ebola virus that has appeared in recent years. Since the first discovery of Ebola virus in 1976, Ebola has been constantly invading African countries. The World Health Organization said in an assessment report in December 218 that the Ebola epidemic in Congo is "still severe". CNN once used this sentence to describe people infected with Ebola: "It's as if they were cursed by the devil."

Blood Epidemic tells the story of Ebola virus that happened from 1967 to 1993. It not only describes the horror of Ebola virus, but also praises the medical staff who have dedicated themselves to the research and prevention of the virus. This book is a documentary literature. At the beginning, it describes the process of Charles Monnet's infection and death. The process of death is shocking, like a thriller, and it is creepy. There is only one flight between civilization and virus. With the globalization of transportation, viruses can reach all parts of the world quickly by plane. How should we deal with the virus lurking in the dark is worth pondering by all mankind.

Richard, author of this book? Preston is an American nonfiction writer and contributor to The New Yorker. Blood Plague topped the list of nonfiction bestsellers in The New York Times for 61 weeks. Therefore, Preston was awarded the Epidemic Fighter Award by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is the only winner who won the award as a non-doctor.

African tropical rain forest is one of the three largest rain forests in the world, which plays a role in regulating climate, preventing soil erosion and purifying air. It is the most resistant and stable ecosystem on earth. Tropical rain forest provides abundant resources for human beings, but in the depths of the rain forest, there are viruses that are deadly to human beings. They are hidden in the depths of the forest and spread to humans through animal blood, body fluids or corpses. It was sudden, aggressive and cruel, killing one host after another.

Today, we will look at three terrible viruses in the tropical rain forest, namely Marburg virus, Ebola virus in Sudan and Ebola virus in Zaire. All three viruses belong to Filoviridae, and their lethality is worse than each other. The fatality rate of Marburg virus is about 25%, that of Ebola virus in Sudan is 5%, and that of Ebola virus in Zaire is twice as deadly as that of Ebola virus in Sudan, which is about 9%. In other words, infection with Ebola virus in Zaire is basically equal to the call of death. At present, these three viruses have not found the original host, and no specific drugs have been developed. They are still a major problem facing human beings.

Preston, the author, first led us into Mount Elgon in Kenya to explore how Marburg virus caused disasters. Charles Monet is a Frenchman who lives in a sugar factory in western Kenya. He is 56 years old, living alone, and his friends are limited to women in surrounding villages and towns. On New Year's Day in 198, he and a female friend went to Mount Elgon to explore the Cheatham Cave. Seven days later, on January 8, 198, Charles Monet began to have a headache, and his eyes, temples and back began to hurt. On the third day, I began to have nausea, high fever and vomiting. Subsequently, people become indifferent and dull, their personality becomes gloomy and irritable, and they lose their minds.

Charles Monnet flew to Nairobi Hospital, the best private hospital in East Africa. At this time, the virus he was infected with is replicating itself in his body, and the replication speed is very fast. Military experts say this is called the "extreme amplification" stage. How many virus particles are multiplying? At the peak of extreme amplification, there are hundreds of millions of virus particles in the blood of patients the size of an eye drop. As a result of this extreme expansion, a large number of viruses are mixed in the blood and appear as black vomit.

On the plane, the virus particles broke free from the bondage of the body, and Charles Monet began to have a nosebleed, which could not be stopped, because the coagulation factors in his body had already been exhausted. Charles Monet got off the plane with difficulty and then took a taxi to Nairobi Hospital. At this time, Charles Monet has become a human virus bomb, and the whole body is full of countless viruses. After arriving at the hospital, the suicide bomber exploded. In the waiting room, he felt dizzy, bent down, and a huge amount of blood poured out of his stomach and sprayed it on the ground. He fell forward to the ground and continued to vomit black blood. In the end, Monet died of systemic collapse and bleeding. The virus is trying to find a new "host" as the ejected blood is exposed to the air.

After laboratory tests by researchers, it was confirmed that Charles Monnet was infected with Marburg virus. As mentioned earlier, Marburg virus has a mortality rate of about 25% and is an extremely deadly pathogen. However, compared with the Ebola virus in Sudan and Zaire, Marburg is the gentlest of the three sisters. Next, we will introduce the Ebola virus called "human blackboard eraser".

In September, 1976, YuG, a warehouse manager of a cotton processing factory in Nzala town in southern Sudan, was infected with Ebola virus, and every hole in his body was bleeding when he died. A few days after his death, two other employees in the office also showed symptoms of infection, and they also bled to death. This virus, which was later named "Ebola in Sudan", spread through physical contact and sexual behavior. The infected patients will infect the whole family, and the infected people will gather in the hospital, and the virus will spread through the hospital. The soda Ebola virus, like the devil, killed almost all the population in southern Sudan.

The epidemic broke out quickly and subsided quickly. The reason for the disappearance may be that the reuse of contaminated needles was stopped, the hospital was emptied and the chain of infection was interrupted. It is also possible that the death rate of Ebola virus in Sudan is too high and the killing speed is fast, and the virus has no time to infect others.

Two months after the Sudan crisis broke out, in September 1976, a more serious epidemic broke out in Bamba district in northern Zaire, which is now the Ebola River area in Congo. A new and more deadly virus swept through this area, which was named "Ebola in Zaire" virus.

The first known case of Ebola in Zaire is a teacher, who once visited Yambuku Hospital. The medical conditions here are backward, and doctors will use the same syringe many times, which provides a way for the spread of Ebola virus in Zaire. The Ebola virus in Zaire, with this hospital as the core, spread radially everywhere. The epidemic broke out simultaneously in 55 villages in the upper reaches of the Ebola River, killing 9% of the infected people.

Ebola virus is a perfect parasite and the most perfect killing machine in nature. Seven kinds of protein, which make up virus particles, tirelessly replicate themselves, and they turn the human body into mucus full of virus particles. Patients infected with Ebola will suddenly have high fever, headache, sore throat, weakness and muscle pain. Then vomiting and diarrhea. Two weeks after the onset, the virus overflowed, causing bleeding inside and outside the human body. Finally, every hole in the whole body was bleeding, and the patient could die within 24 hours.

Since 1976, Ebola virus, like a ghost, has broken out more than 3 times in the world with extremely horrible transmission mode and speed. The more serious one was the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 214, which killed 4,951 people. More seriously, this epidemic is the first time that Ebola virus has left Africa, causing infection in Europe and America. For a time, the whole world talked about "Egypt". In 218, the shadow of Ebola once again enveloped Africa. In August, a new round of Ebola outbreak broke out in Congo, killing more than 2 people.

Three terrible viruses found in tropical rain forests in Africa, Marburg virus, Ebola virus in Sudan and Ebola virus in Zaire. These three viruses are more lethal than each other, especially the Ebola virus in Zaire, with a fatality rate of about 9%. The author Preston said: "There is only one flight between civilization and virus". The terrible Ebola virus also arrived in the United States by plane.

Reston, Virginia, about ten miles west of Washington, D.C., is a bustling town. There is a company in the town called Haehser Research Products, which is responsible for importing and selling experimental animals. About 16, wild monkeys are imported into the United States from tropical areas every year. Monkeys must be quarantined for one month, and healthy monkeys will be sent to all parts of the United States.

Dan Dalgard, the doctor in charge of quarantine of monkeys in Haehser, is a knowledgeable and experienced veterinarian, specializing in the scientific breeding of primates.

On October 4th, 1989, one hundred wild monkeys from the Philippines were sent to Haehser Dunton Company. It is not surprising that two monkeys died in transit. Monkeys often die in transit. However, in the next three weeks, the dying monkeys in Reston Monkey House became more and more unusual.

In the past month, 29 of the 1 monkeys delivered have died. This attracted the attention of Dr. Dalgard, a veterinarian. He came to the monkey house and found the sick monkey with drooping eyelids and narrowed eyes. His abdomen felt warm and the monkey was running a fever. He decided that the monkey was suffering from heatstroke caused by high temperature, and suggested repairing the air conditioning system that had failed recently.

that night, two more sick monkeys died. After the autopsy, Dalgard found that the monkey's spleen was strangely swollen and there was a small amount of bleeding in the intestine. It is reasonable to say that heatstroke will not cause splenomegaly, and he suspects that the "ape hemorrhagic fever" virus is at work. This kind of virus can't survive in humans, but it is fatal to monkeys.

After that, several monkeys died every night. Dalgard wanted to find out what was wrong with these monkeys, so he sent a monkey corpse numbered O53 to the "American Army Infectious Disease Medical Research Institute" in Fort Trick.

Peter Yelling, a pathologist in the Institute, is responsible for identifying the virus infected by monkeys, and his initial judgment is also ape hemorrhagic fever. But Dalgard found that monkeys did not have any symptoms of ape-like hemorrhagic fever, and watching monkeys die, a cloud of doubt lingered in his heart.

Tom Gasbert, an intern in the institute, likes to study viruses and can stare at them for days on end. On November 17th, Gasbert took a look at the triangular flask for virus culture with monkey cells, and found that something was wrong. The liquid in the triangle bottle becomes turbid, as if the cells have been blown away, leaving only sediment. Gasport found his boss Yelin, and they looked at it together, unscrewed the bottle cap and smelled it. If it is an ordinary virus, it is nothing to smell it, but if it is Ebola virus, their action is likely to mean death.

Gasbert poured the turbid liquid into the test tube and put it into the centrifuge for rotation. Then, the gray muddy substance at the bottom of the test tube is soaked in plastic resin for preservation. A week later, Gasbert observed the collected monkey somatic cells with a microscope, trying to find evidence that they were infected with ape hemorrhagic fever. As a result, it was found that these cells were robbed, destroyed and blown apart, and their cell walls were full of viruses like ropes.

is it Marburg virus? Because there is only one virus that looks like a rope, and that is filamentous virus. His stomach twisted into a knot, and he felt uncomfortable for a while, followed by a thread. He panicked. This is a high-risk pathogen with biosafety level 4. What is the concept of level 4? Let's compare it. The SARS virus is level 3, and level 4 is one level more dangerous than this.

Gasbert couldn't help but be afraid. He and Yelin had heard of and touched this thing. The incubation period of monkeys who have smoked Marburg virus is six to eighteen days, and he is on the tenth day. What is the most terrible thing in the world? It was at this time that he knew that he would die in a few days, and his heart was full of fear.

From the negative, Gasbert saw virus particles that looked like long snakes, which were like Medusa's hair, vicious and horrible. He found Yelin with the photo, and Yelin thought he was joking. After seeing the photos, Yelin was also surprised.

If monkeys are really infected with Marburg virus, it means a huge life safety crisis, which will inevitably cause public panic. Yelin reported to his superiors and decided to test those cells with human blood samples. If they were infected with Marburg virus, the blood samples would glow.

this test is a delicate job, and it will take several hours to finish. Yelin put on a closed protective suit, which also increased the difficulty of the experiment. One * * * has three serum samples, one is Marburg virus, the other is Ebola virus in Sudan, and the other is Ebola virus in Zaire. Among them, one sample reacted to the monkey house virus, but this sample was not Marburg, but Ebola virus in Zaire. Seeing the test results, Yelin's stomach turned upside down and almost no sound was heard. Both he and Gasbert have been exposed to this virus, and personal life and death are small. If it causes a large-scale outbreak in the United States, it will be unimaginable.

But the incredible thing is that this crisis was just a false alarm. The epidemic didn't break out among human beings. Yelin and Gasbert were fine, and no one died in the keeper of the monkey house. They all found the virus in their bodies. The virus has entered their circulatory system, and they have no discomfort or headache. Finally, the virus naturally disappeared. This feeling is just like Preston's expression: "Nature seems to be approaching us, holding the butcher knife high, but suddenly turning away and smiling."

This virus can spread through the air, and it is almost indistinguishable from Ebola virus in Zaire, but it is harmless to human body. It is a variant of Ebola virus, and was finally named "Reston Ebola virus".

Ebola virus was discovered in Reston, USA. The virus particles flew from the Philippines to the United States, causing a panic in American research institutes. After many twists and turns, it was finally found that the virus that caused the death of monkeys was very similar to Ebola virus in Zaire, but it was only fatal to monkeys and harmless to humans. In the end, it was named Reston Ebola virus.

Preston, the author, said: "In a sense, the earth is starting an immune response to human beings." What is an immune response? It refers to the body's defensive response to alien components or mutated components. That is to say, the earth regards human beings as alien elements, and the proliferation and behavior of human beings infringe on the health of the earth. The earth does not like to accommodate so many human beings, so it releases viruses, kills human beings and maintains the balance of the biosphere.

Marburg virus, Ebola virus in Sudan and Ebola virus in Zaire are all the strongest forces displayed by nature. Can humans be threatened by high-risk viruses?