Unseen Natural Enemies

The Bubonic plagues of the 14th and 15th centuries may not be the last plagues mankind will witness. But next time, the outbreak will be caused, not by a bacteria, but by a virus which is unresilient to modern antibiotics. A virus, minute in comparison to bacteria, is a parasite composed of membranes, proteins, and one or more strands of DNA or RNA. Viruses with enough of a devastating effect to wipe out over half the population of the world have already been discovered. They are classified as Biosafety Level 4 hot agents. A viruses deadliness and contagion determine its Biosafety Level. AIDS has taken the lives of over 10 million people and is expected to peak around 120 million. It is only a Biosafety Level 2 virus. Level 4 agents, the worst of the worst, are extremely lethal viruses for which there is no vaccine and no cure. Viruses like Lassa, Oropoche, Rocio, VEE, monkeypox, and Guanarita are all classified as Level 4. But the most deadly viruses known to man belong to the filovirus family: Ebola and Marburg.

Filoviruses

According to Preston(1994), Marburg exterminates 25 percent of the living creatures it comes in contact with. Even those who survive lose their hair. In addition, patient's skin peels away from their hands, feet, faces, and genitals during the recovery period. Although Ebola Reston and Ebola Tai appear to be unable to jump into the human species, Ebola viruses tell an even more shocking story than Marburg. Ebola appears to attack the immune system as AIDS does. But, Ebola is much more explosive. AIDS takes ten years to complete its cycle. Ebola only takes ten days. Transmitted through contact with contaminated blood, Ebola, in some instances, can also become airborne. This is true of Ebola Reston, which is extremely closely related to Ebola Zaire in almost all aspects except human contagion. Ebola Sudan boasts an even larger mortality rate than Marburg: one out of every two hosts it enters. In this aspect, it is almost identical to the Bubonic plague. Ebola Zaire is by far the evil twin of the lethal tandem of Ebola viruses. Leaving 90 percent of those who contract this disease dead, Ebola Zaire has already slated several towns off the map.

Ebola Zaire sieges every organ and tissue in the body short of the skeletal muscle and bone. Ruthlessly, it transforms an entire body into a slimy wasteland of viral particles. It only takes 5 to 10 particles of Ebola Zaire to begin amplification. It begins in the center of infected cells. The particles multiply so rapidly, the cells fill with a block of crystallized virus expanding towards the cell membrane. Upon reaching the cell wall, the crystal then deteriorates into thousands of individual particles and surges through the membrane and into the blood stream. This process then repeats, each time infecting a greater number of cells than the time before. This is the process of amplification. Eventually, the particles in the bloodstream cause the blood to thicken and slow. As this happens, it begins to make small blood clots. The clots flow through arteries into smaller capillaries where they begin to get stuck and cut off blood supply to areas of the body. In the brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, breast tissue, intestines, testicles, and throughout the skin dead areas appear.

Ebola destroys collagen, the major substance that links cells together. As the collagen liquifies, the under layers of the skin do the same. Hemorrhages under the skin, called petehaie, are marked by red spots that develop on the surface. These red spots expand and merge becoming massive bruises. As a result, the skin becomes exceedingly soft. The skin then develops macupapular rash where multiple white blisters appear. Hemorrhagic blood seeps from tears that develop in the skin.

Every opening of the body bleeds. Blood hemorrhages from the salivary glands. In fact, the surface of the tongue loosens and may fall off. The back of the throat may do the same. The gums surrounding the teeth bleeds and the entire mouth bleeds. Ebola destroys the lining of the eyes. Blindness may onset as the eyeballs fill with blood. Dying patients often cry blood.

Ebola causes a spotted necrosis in the internal organs. The heart bleeds into itself as the heart muscle relaxes. As the heart beats, blood is pushed out into the torso cavity. The liver expands, changes color, and partially liquefies. Cracks begin to appear and the liver eventually dies. The kidneys die and urine rushes into the bloodstream. The spleen transforms into a baseball sized blood clot. The lining of the intestines dies and falls off causing the intestines to fill with blood. Ebola liquefies virtually all of the body's internal organs.

Dead blood cells litter the brain. In the final stage, epileptic seizures set in. The entire body shimmies and shakes. The eyes also fall into the head. These convulsions splatter blood around the area in Ebola's final strive to jump to another host. Testifying to Ebola's efficiency, this process usually takes less than two weeks. In fact, it is not even known why Ebola Zaire spares one out of every ten people.

Filovirus Outbreaks

When a virus is attempting to enter mankind, the typical warning sign is a series of microbreaks at different places and times. Each if these microbreaks could amplify into an outbreak and, if the virus is deadly enough, wipe out civilization as it is known today.

The first microbreak known to medical researchers was of Marburg in 1967. Ironically, it occurred at Behring Works, a vaccine factory, in Germany. The factory was exposed by one of its regular shipments of monkeys from Uganda, Africa. The virus soon spread to a nearby town. Overall, the microbreak infected 31 people and took the lives of 7.

Ebola first appeared in Sudan and Zaire in July, 1976. Near the edge of the central African rain forests in southern Sudan, a shopkeeper fell ill with Ebola Sudan in Nzara. A few days later, he died. Soon after, two of his co-workers died. After running amuck in Nzara, it jumped to the nearby town of Marid where the hospital quickly became a morgue. At the same time, the Zaire string had unmasked itself and was plaguing the population of areas of Zaire. The microbreak unfolded into an epidemic and almost destroyed the human population of southern Sudan. Overall, the epidemic destroyed 55 villages in Zaire.

Drastic measures were taken during the first break of Ebola Reston. It also began in a monkey house. Except, this particular monkey house was located less than 15 miles from Washington, D.C. At first, the virus was believed to be Ebola Zaire because of its striking resemblance to Ebola Reston, which, at the time, was unknown. The monkeys had been exported from the Philippines. Therefore, the natural habitat of Ebola was not only in Africa anymore. It was spreading. Being inside the American borders, the Center for Disease Control(CDC) and the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases(USAMRIID) went on full alert. They entered the monkey house in Biosafety Level 4 space suits and sedated and put over 400 monkeys to sleep. Next, they sealed off the building and filled it with gases that will kill any living organism on the planet. For a short while, the monkey house was the only place on earth where absolutely nothing lived.

Since these microbreaks, many more have arisen. Ebola Tai was discovered in the Ivory Coast. Another microbreak of Ebola Zaire occurred in May of 1995 in Kinshasa and Kikwit, a city of 600,000 people. The entire cities were quarantined. Luckily, only 245 lives were taken. Two cases of Ebola Zaire have occurred in Gabon: one in February, 1996 and the other in October, 1996. Several cases of Marburg have been treated at Nairobi Hospital in Africa.Another microbreak of Ebola Reston even occurred in Texas in April, 1996.

The Safety of Civilization

Hot agents are already identified as the United States number one threat to national security. Yet, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, has put a freeze on new expenditures. This has left the CDC extremely understaffed and almost unable to handle an outbreak of mediocre proportion. This process is also taking place at USAMRIID as a result of decreased defense spending. Therefore, two of the world's six agencies with facilities to handle Biosafety Level 4 hot agents crippled. Research to attempt to discover cures or vaccines for hot agents are progressing unbearably slow. For example, the best preventative for contraction of Ebola Zaire, scotch, was stumbled on by a medical researcher who was working in the field with dying patients and fearing for his own life.

Ebola Zaire is the deadliest virus known to man. But, mankind is continuously exposed to more Biosafety Level 4 hot agents as it expands further into the rain forests. Perhaps, the next hot agent to emerge is an airborne strand of Ebola Zaire. This strand would be almost exactly like Ebola Reston except it would be contagious to the human species. Civilization's airports could work as a network to aid in the expansion of this new virus. In fact, it could circle the world and eliminate 90 percent of the world's population in less than three weeks.

If better preventive measures are not taken, civilization could come crashing down with the look of a dead Ebola patient: mask like face, red eyes, bloody nose, soft skin, the hint of brain damage, and the classic Ebola face. "The classic Ebola face makes [its host] look as if [it has] seen something beyond comprehension. It is not a vision of heaven."(Robert Preston, The Hot Zone, pg 55)

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