Ebola Reston Essay

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In August of 2014, four Americans contracted the deadly Ebola virus. What followed was a huge panic for many Americans whom were not aware of the virus. Written and published as the time when Ebola became popularly known in first world countries, "Stalking a Killer", by David Quammen throws light upon reservoir hosts of the virus, specifically, bats. Published years before, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, a nonfiction novel about the origins of the Ebola virus, explores Marburg and the many different strains of Ebola. When studying Ebola, scientists pay special attention to asymptomatic hosts, much like the humans infected with Ebola in Reston, Virginia in the Hot Zone and the bats studied in "Stalking the Killer".In 1989 the primates of the …show more content…
This strain of Ebola later became known as Ebola Reston. The number of monkeys dying of Ebola Zaire in the house increased as time progressed, all the way up until the army euthanized them for the safety of the civilians. Though it seems the two viruses infect their hosts in the same fashion, many differences distinguish Reston from what scientists knew as Ebola before. With symptoms such as headaches, stomach pain, coughing, profuse bleeding, and vomiting blood, humans die from Ebola. Civilians' whose blood was drawn and tested for Ebola Zaire tested positive, but they showed no symptoms. Preston describes, "The headache begins typically on the seventh day after exposure to the agent," none of them presented any signs of this (Preston 14). The rain forest bats that are studied in "Stalking a Killer" are much like the humans who contracted Ebola in The Hot Zone: asymptomatic. When the Ebola virus lodges inside the host it looks much like rope, eventually growing crystal-like clusters as it multiplies inside the organism. Inside both examples of the reservoir hosts, the virus continues to

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