Ebola: síndrome letal / Ebola: a fatal syndrome

No other clinical entity has attached more attention now-a-day than those precipitated by the infection with a Hemorrhagic Fever Virus. Potentially caused by Arena, Bunya, Flavi, and Filoviradae, only the latter has had such a major impact throughout the world. Two major genuses have been recognized since they become evident for the first time in 1967, the single-species Marburg, and the 3-species-Ebola (E. zaire, sudan and reston). With the exception of the 2 outbreaks of E. reston (Washington, USA 1989-1993), all of them have taken place in Africa, where the virus is still hiding among the wild-life of the Tropical Rain Forest. Currently (in April 1995) the reemergence of Ebola virus has once more proven its fatality, leaving around 170 deaths in Zaire, 250 miles from its capital, Kinshasa. There is worldwide alert, sponsored by the CDC in Atlanta, the World Health Organization and the authorities in Zaire regarding its potential spreading to naive regions, in and out of Africa. The characteristic clinical picture of a viral hemorrhagic fever has no match. After a 2-21 days incubation period a viral-like illness develops. As days go by, symptoms worsen, and by the 7th day, a severe and diffuse bleeding tendency ensues. The individual's death is the most likely outcome in the great majority of cases. As a lethal virus, without an available treatment and a possible airborne-route of transmission, Ebola virus will always be considered a persistent threat to the global health

Virus ébola / Ebola virus

La familia Filoviridae esta compuesta por cuatro virus: Marburg y tres subtipos de Ebola (Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudán y Ebola Reston). El género de los filovirus son muy similares morfológicamente y en densidad; son visualizados como partículas pleomórficas, grandes y filamentosas, frecuentemente adquieren configuraciones circulares o en U. La longitud del virión es variable (hasta 14000nm) pero el diámetro es uniforme en 80 nm. El virus consta de una nucleocápside, rodeada por una cápside helicoidal; hay un canal axial en la nucleocápside, una membrana formada por proyecciones de 10 nm, y todo el virión está cubierto por una unidad de lipoproteína derivada de la célula huésped. El genoma consta de una molécula de una cadena única de polaridad negativa de RNA que no es infeccioso por sí mismo, cuyo orden es: región 3I, nucleoproteína, proteína viral estructural, VP35, glicoproteína VP40, VP30, VP24, polimerasa (L) y región 5I