yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Ebola 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Blood clots begin to form, internal organs begin to fail, and in a matter of days, the body hemorrhages and dies. Terrors all caused by a nightmare come to life.

Ebola is a rare but extremely dangerous disease. It's classified as one of the most lethal diseases on the planet with a fatality rate of up to 90%.

Ebola is caused by six species of virus, with four known to cause sickness in humans, and each is named after the locations of their outbreaks. The first known species was Zaire ebolavirus, discovered in 1976 near Zaire's Ebola River, a river fated to become the namesake of all Ebola viruses.

Like all viruses, Ebola viruses infect and feed off of their hosts starting on a microscopic level. The viruses, which are string-like structures, contain genetic information in the form of ribonucleic acid, or RNA.

Encasing the RNA are layers of proteins. The proteins on the outermost layer are highly versatile, capable of changing shape and binding to different types of cells within a host. When binding occurs, the Ebola virus fuses with a host cell, allowing the virus' RNA to infiltrate the cell and to replicate the virus from within.

This infection quickly spreads to countless cells throughout the body, resulting in some of the most terrifying symptoms known to man. Within eight to 10 days, those infected by the Ebola virus may experience symptoms drastically ranging in severity from fevers to diarrhea and vomiting to internal and external bleeding, often from the eyes.

While outbreaks have been caused by multiple species of Ebola virus, the strain with the highest fatality rate was the first to be discovered, Zaire ebolavirus. In 2014, it caused the most severe outbreak in history, sweeping through western Africa and resulting in over 11,000 deaths, more than all earlier Ebola outbreaks put together.

At this point, no cure for Ebola exists. Plus, the communities most likely to be affected do not have sufficient access to healthcare. In the meantime, international efforts are being made to develop and test vaccines that could potentially stop the disease once and for all.

(somber music)

More Articles

View All
How to buy a $50,000,000 private jet!
Hey Steve, I just expanded my business to South America and I’ve got 50 million to spend on the jet. How many people do you want to carry? Uh, just me and six of my girlfriends. Six of your girlfriends? You don’t have enough money to spend on the jet l…
Multiplying and dividing by powers of 10
In another video, we introduce ourselves to the idea of powers of 10. We saw that if I were to just say 10 to the first power, that means that we’re just really just going to take 1. If we have 10 to the second power, that means that we’re going to take …
I was wrong.
I was wrong. I never believed in accountability, and I thought it’s stupid because for me, if you want to truly achieve something, you won’t need anyone else. All you need to do is focus on your goals solely, disappear from the crowd, put a distance betwe…
The funky -ed irregular verb | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy
Hello, Garans. We’re talking about irregular verbs, that is to say, verbs that aren’t formed like regular verbs. To give you a taste of what regular verbs look like, just as a refresher, let’s take the word “walk.” Let’s put it in the present tense. Now…
Warren Buffett: How You Need to Be Investing in 2024
If you want the ability to build generational wealth and the financial freedom to retire early and leave the unending corporate rat race, you should be listening to Warren Buffett’s most recent investing advice. For the better part of the last year, lege…
The Eighth Amendment | The National Constitution Center | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Hi, this is Kim from Khan Academy. Today, I’m learning about the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from imposing excessive fines and bail or inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on individuals accused or convicte…