PART ONE
Charles Monet – Marburg Virus
The book begins by discussing a man by the name of Charles
Monet who lived in western Kenya. He was
known for spending a lot of time with animals, specifically wild monkeys and
birds. He and a female friend, whose
name is unknown, went on a trip to Mount Elgon on New Year Eve. The exposure
they had to animals was discussed in detail.
Monet fed a wild monkey while it sat on his shoulder. They then set up
their tent in an area with buffalo feces on the grass. Trees containing olives
poisonous to humans also surrounded the area and monkeys feeding on the olives
were living in these trees. The next morning, Monet and his friend visited
Kitum Cave. There the platform in which they walked on contained elephant feces
as well as bat guano (digested feces).
The cave was described as a petrified rain forest containing needle-like
crystals everywhere. After the trip, Monet went back to work as usual. However,
one week later he began to have a headache. As time passed, he began to show
other symptoms including a backache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. His personality began to change and his eyes
turned red and droopy, his skin turned yellow and began to bruise, and he no
longer seemed to understand where he was. His coworkers took him to the
hospital where the doctors could not diagnose him. He was sent to another
hospital via commercial airplane and his condition worsened on the flight. He
began to vomit black and red vomit and eventually got a nosebleed. Once the plane landed, he went straight to
the hospital via taxi and was told to wait to be attended in the Casualty
Department along with other patients. There he collapsed on the floor, lost
consciousness, and yet continued to vomit and began to bleed out from his anus.
Dr. Musoke – Marburg Virus
Dr. Shem Musoke and several nurses got Monet onto a gurney
and took him to the ICU. There Dr. Musoke tried to treat him while wearing no
gloves. Blood ended up getting all over Dr. Musoke including in his mouth and
eyes. That night Monet died and Dr. Musoke stayed by his side all night. Nine
days after the blood and vomit got into Dr. Musoke’s eyes and mouth he began to
get a backache and then his eyes turned red.
He got an injection for an antimalarial drug and it caused him more pain
than an injection should cause. Other symptoms began to develop including
jaundice, abdominal pain, and images revealed that his liver was enlarged. Dr.
David Silverstein performed surgery on Dr. Musoke and ended up having trouble
stopping Dr. Musoke’s bleeding. His blood was losing its ability to clot. After
the surgery Dr. Silverstein sent some of Dr. Musoke’s blood samples to the CDC.
Dr. Musoke was diagnosed with Marburg virus. Dr. Silverstein treated him with
supportive care and Dr. Musoke was able to survive the virus.
Peter Cardinal – Marburg Virus
A 10-year-old named Peter Cardinal became sick after
visiting Kitum Cave with his family. His eyes turned red and doctors though he
had malaria. He was having trouble breathing and x-rays demonstrated watery
mucus developing in his lungs. His skin had red spots and his fingertips turned
blue. His skin then began to spontaneously bruise and his pupils dilated
indicating brain death. His skin then began to fill with blood, to the point
where it was almost separated from his flesh. Cardinal then died.
Ebola Sudan Victims
The first known case of Ebola Sudan was Mr. Yu. G. in
southern Sudan. No one knows how he was
infected but he infected two of his workers. After Mr. Yu G.’s death his
coworkers bled, went into shock, and died of massive hemorrhages. The virus spread and ended up in a hospital in
Maridi. The virus jumped from patient to patient quickly because the medical
staff had been using dirty needles for injections. Eventually the remaining
staff fled and the virus subsided because there were no more dirty needles
being used and other people had not come in contact with the blood of the
infected patients.
Ebola Zaire Victims
The Ebola Zaire strain was twice as lethal as Ebola Sudan. It
appeared in a district by the name of Bumba Zone in northern Zaire. The first
human case remains unknown however the disease surfaced in a clinic run by nuns
called the Yambuku Mission Hospital. A schoolteacher had taken a trip to
northern Zaire where he and his friends bought antelope and monkey meat. Upon
returning from the trip his wife cooked it and they ate it. He began to feel
sick and got an injection at the clinic. The nuns used the same five syringes on
hundreds of patients all day and did not clean the regularly. It is unknown
whether the man got infected during the trip, from the meat, or from the
injection with the dirty needle. The virus erupted simultaneously in 55
villages surrounding the clinic. Many nuns were infected and died. Sister M. E.
was infected and taken to Ngaliema Hospital in Kinshasa, Zaire where she died.
Sister E. R. accompanied her and ended up getting infected and dying as well. Nurse
Mayinga N. was infected with the virus. She was in denial and travel around
town for 2 days. Eventually she returned to the hospital and died. Nobody that
she came in contacted with during her days in town was infected.
Marburg Virus
Marburg virus is a ring shaped filovirus. A filovirus is a
virus that is shaped like a thread. Marburg virus affects the central nervous
system as well as the brain. Signs and symptoms include headaches, red eyes,
backaches, fever, nausea, vomiting, depersonalization, and spontaneous
bruising. Other symptoms include jaundice, abdominal pain, and the blood looses
its ability to clot. Before dying the victim can undergo different types of
spacing. First space is when you bleed out into your lungs. Second space is
when you bleed into your stomach and intestines. Third space is when you bleed
into the space between the skin and the flesh and they eventually become
separated.
Ebola Sudan
It is twice as lethal as the Marburg virus. Ebola Sudan
causes bleeding and shock. Signs and symptoms include mental derangement,
psychosis, and depersonalization. Massive hemorrhages from all openings of the
body occur and then the victim dies. The mortality rate for Ebola Sudan is 50%.
Ebola Zaire
Ebola Zaire is almost twice as lethal as Ebola Sudan. This
strain attacks every organ and tissue in the body except skeletal muscle and
bone. Clots appear in the bloodstream and block blood supply to different parts
of the body. The skin develops petechiae (red spots that signify hemorrhages
under the skin). The connective tissue in the body is liquefied and the skin
develops a maculopapular rash. This rash consists of tiny white blister mixed
with red spots. Rips appear in the skin from which blood comes out of and the
skin begins to bruise. Every opening in the body begins to bleed and the
surface of the tongue sloughs off. The heart muscle softens and bleeds into
itself, the brain becomes clogged with dead blood cells, and the eyeballs are
filled with blood which and leads to blindness. Even though the body is filed
with blood clots, the bleeding that occurs outside of the body cannot clot. He
liver, kidneys, and intestines are also destroyed and the spleen turns into one
big blood clot. Ebola patients have epileptic convulsions during the final
stage and after dying their bodies begin to dissolve.
Gerald and Nancy Jaax
Majors Gerald and Nancy Jaax where then introduced to the
story. They are a married couple and are both veterinarians that work for the
US Army. Major Nancy Jaax began to work with Ebola in the biosafety level four
labs. She entered the lab without realizing that there was a hole in the glove
of her space suit. Blood from the monkey
she was working on got into the glove but upon further inspection it turned out
that the blood did not get passed the first layer of gloves she was wearing
under the space suit. She later finds out that the two healthy monkeys in the
lab somehow got infected with Ebola. She realized Ebola is airborne.
Part One Reaction
As I was reading this part I found myself forgetting that
the victims where not aware of the disease or their exposure to it. Because of
my previous knowledge about viruses I was able to recognize the actions that
lead to their infections. For instance, when Monet was in the cave the detailed
description of the animal feces everywhere and then the sharp crystals were a
clear indication that he would begin showing symptoms of the virus soon after
the trip. I was in utter shock when the doctors sent him to another hospital
via commercial airplane and then again when Dr. Musoke was attending to him
with no gloves on. The book became suspenseful when Nancy Jaax was working with
Ebola in the lab. I too felt fear for her as she was removing the layers of
gloves to see of the money blood had gotten to the cut on her hand and then
relief when it was revealed that it had not. After it was known that Peter
Cardinal had visited Kitum Cave I too felt Eugene Johnson’s excitement for the
expedition to the cave. It was disappointing that when there they could not
find the source of the virus and even more disappointing that they had to
euthanize the monkeys even though they were not infected.
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