文献：Virology and Epidemiology

cao1976

Ebola: Virology and Epidemiology
Raymond Charles Sanders Ph.D.*
(*Scientist, Expanded Programme in Epidemiology, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office,
Manila Philippines. Presented during the PSMID Organized Post-Graduate Course, 23rd International Congress in
Internal Medicine, PICC, Manila Philippines)
ABSTRACT
Since the 1976 Zaire and Sudan epidemic, extensive studies of the Ebola virus have been made This virus
was morphologically identical to Marburg Virus; the cause of deadly outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever in Germany and
Yugoslavia in 1967, but serologically distinct. Because of their unique filamentous form, these viruses have been
placed in a separate family, the Filoviridae with one genus, Filovirus. While viral replication is similar to that of other
negative-stranded RNA viruses containing a monopartite genome, the mode of entry of the Ebola virus into ceils
remains unknown. Laboratory studies on filoviruses present an extreme biohazard and should be conducted only under
high, containment conditions. Antibodies (IgG and IgM) to the Ebola virus, originally detected by
immunofluorescence, are now more routinely detected. ELISA, and viral RNA by by reverse transcriptase-polymerase
chain reaction.
Small self-limiting Ebola outbreaks recurred in Sudan in 1979, in the same area as the 1976 outbrea and more
reently in Kikwit last April 1995. All attempts to trace the virus source from all the index cases, however, have failed to
uncover a reservoir. Whatever the original source, person-to-person transmission is the :means by which outbreaks and
epidemics progress. In all episodes, isolation of patienys and the use of barrier nursing procedures, including the use of
protective clothing and repirators, have been sufficient to interrupt transmission. [Phil J Microbiol Infect Dis 1996;
25(1):S4-S7]
Key Words: Ebola virus, filoviridae, filovirus epidemics