KSU Tıp Fak Der 2015;10(3) 21 Ebola Virus Infections Ebola Virüs Enfeksiyonları Ekrem KİREÇCİ 1 *, Ali Jalak MUHIALDIN 2 , Dlshad Abdalla DEWANA 2 , Hayam Nori AWAD 2 1 Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Kahramanmaraş, TURKEY 2 Department of Bioengineeing and Sciences, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Kahramanmaraş, TUR- KEY Özet Ebola, Filoviridae ailesinden, zarflı, segmentsiz, negative polariteli bir RNA virusudur. Ebola virus ilk kez 1976 yılında Sudan ve Zaire’de, kanamalı ateşle seyreden iki salgınla ilişkili olarak tanımlanmıştır. Son zamanlarda, Uganda, Gabon ve Kongo Demokratik Cumhuriyetinde (eski ismi; Zaire) kanamalı ateş ile seyreden büyük epidemiler yaşandı. Bu infeksiyon, genellikle ateş, titreme, halsizlik, yorgunluk, bitkinlik ve kas ağrıları ile karakterizedir. Ebola virusu ile infekte hastalarda, başlangıçta non-spesifik grip benzeri semptomlar görülmekle birlikte, çoklu organ yetmezliği ve septik şok gelişebilmektedir. Virusun bu- laşması, direk olarak hastaların vücut sıvıları yada infekte sekresyonlarla kontamine nesneler ile temas sonucu olmaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: : Ebola virusu, infeksiyon Abstract Ebola virus belongs to the family Filoviridae, which comprises filamen- tous, enveloped, nonsegmented, negative-sense RNA viruses. Ebola virus was first described in 1976 in association with two outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in two neighboring locations: first in southern Su- dan and subsequently in Zaire. Recently, Uganda, Gabon and the Dem- ocratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) suffered from large epidemics of viral haemorrhagic fever imputed to Ebola virus. Generally, the in- fection is characterized by fever, chills, weakness, malaise, and myal- gia. Patients with Ebola virus disease initially present with non-specific influenza-like symptoms and can progress to multi organ failure and septic shock. e transmission of the virus is through direct contact with bodily fluids of patients, or exposure to contaminated objects with infected secretions. Key words: Ebola virus, infection İletişim: İletişim: Assoc. Prof Dr. Ekrem Kİ REÇCİ, 1 Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey Tel : e-posta : Kabul Tar: 0 533 617 27 06 ekremkirecci@gmail.com 01.05.2015 Derleme/ Review :27 - 31 Introduction Ebola virus (EBOV) is considered as the prototype pathogen of viral hemorrhagic fever; cause a severe and oſten fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and other mammals and high case mortality rates. is high fatality combined with the ab- sence of treatment and vaccination options, makes Ebola virus an important public health pathogen and biothreat pathogen of category A potential bioterrorism agents by the Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention (1). EBOV acquired public notoriety in the last decade largely as a result of the highly disseminated isolation of a new EBOV species in a suburb of Washington, DC, in 1989, together with the dramatic clinical display of EBOV infection and high case-mortality rate in Africa and the unusual and striking mor- phology of the virus. e evolution in understanding the origins of the path physiological changes that make EBOV infections of humans so destructiveness has been slow, primarily because these viruses require special containment for safe research (2). Ebola virus infection is associated with a case fatality rate of so high, approaching 90% in some outbreaks depending on the virus species. Specific conditions in hospitals and com- munities in Africa facilitate the spread of the infections from hu- man to human (3). EBOV infections are usually the most severe of those caused by the viruses of lethal hemorrhagic disease in humans. Clinical symptoms appear suddenly aſter an incubation period of 2 to 21 days (4). Epidemiology Ebola virus was first described in 1976 in association with two simultaneous outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in two neighboring locations: first in southern Sudan and subsequent- ly in former Zaire, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)). In late August 1979, epidemic haemorrhagic fever re- curred in Nzara and was also seen among persons in Yambio, 25 km away (5). An unknown causative agent was isolated from patients in both outbreaks and named Ebola virus. ese two epidemics were caused by two distinct species of Ebola virus, Su- dan Ebola virus (SEBOV) and Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV), a fact not recognized until years later (6). Ebola virus was morphologically similar to Marburg virus but serologically distinct from it. e outbreak was strong- ly associated with index cases staff in a single cotton factory in town and spread was to close relative’s involved 67 cases. e epidemic was increased by exportation of cases to neighboring areas, at last a third of staff which (41 patients) died (7). e ZEBOV outbreak included 318 cases and 280 deaths (88% mortality), while the SEBOV outbreak included 284 cases and 151 deaths (53% mortality). Since 1976, EBOV has appeared sporadically in Africa, it was caused several small to mid-size outbreaks between 1976 and 1979. In 1995, there was a large epidemic of ZEBOV haemorrhagic fever including 315 cases, with an 81% case mortality rate, in Kikwit, a community in the former Zaire (5). Recently, Uganda, Gabon and the Democratic Repub- :21- 26