BLACKHERBALS.COM
Ebola “may be spread by birds”
LONDON
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
By Health Newswire reporters
New US research suggests that the deadly human virus Ebola may have once been a bird virus and that birds could therefore be spreading it among humans.
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
By Health Newswire reporters
New US research suggests that the deadly human virus Ebola may have once been a bird virus and that birds could therefore be spreading it among humans.
Photo Matthew Munro - Health Media Ltd
Ebola hemorrhagic fever discovered in 1974
Discovered in central Africa in 1976 (??), Ebola is known to infect humans
and monkeys. Scientists have discovered that the virus shares a closer
relationship with some bird viruses than was previously thought.
Beginning with flu-like symptoms, the infection – a particularly gruesome one – soon progresses to nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, and finally to hemorrhaging from the major organs, blood vessels, digestive tract and gums. In 50-90 per cent of cases, the disease is fatal.
A team of researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has discovered that the outer protein shell of the human Ebola virus has a similar biochemical structure to several retroviruses carried by birds.
Scientists have already found genetic similarities between Ebola and the bird viruses, and this new discovery adds further weight to the theory of a common evolutionary origin.
“We knew these viruses were inwardly similar, and now we see their outer similarity as well,” said lead researcher, David Sanders, associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue University.
“While bird transmission of Ebola is by no means certain, the resemblance among all these viruses should encourage health officials to be on guard for it,” he said.
The identification of the virus’s natural hosts should now be a priority for research, he added.
© HMG Worldwide 2002
http://www.health-news.co.uk/
Beginning with flu-like symptoms, the infection – a particularly gruesome one – soon progresses to nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, and finally to hemorrhaging from the major organs, blood vessels, digestive tract and gums. In 50-90 per cent of cases, the disease is fatal.
A team of researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has discovered that the outer protein shell of the human Ebola virus has a similar biochemical structure to several retroviruses carried by birds.
Scientists have already found genetic similarities between Ebola and the bird viruses, and this new discovery adds further weight to the theory of a common evolutionary origin.
“We knew these viruses were inwardly similar, and now we see their outer similarity as well,” said lead researcher, David Sanders, associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue University.
“While bird transmission of Ebola is by no means certain, the resemblance among all these viruses should encourage health officials to be on guard for it,” he said.
The identification of the virus’s natural hosts should now be a priority for research, he added.
© HMG Worldwide 2002
http://www.health-news.co.uk/
