Ebola virus has mutated into 300 versions

The death toll from Ebola has reached 4,500 since the outbreak began in West Africa. More than three hundred versions of the virus have been identified. Scientists believe such mutations are what make the disease so contagious.

Ebola virus has mutated genetically

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report on October 15 saying that so far about 4,500 people have died out of a total of 8,997 people infected with the Ebola virus since the beginning of this year, and the epidemic has spread to seven countries.

WHO divides the 7 countries affected by the Ebola virus into 2 groups. The first group includes the 3 most affected countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The second group includes Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States, which have few new infections but high quarantine capacity. Of the three countries most affected by Ebola, Liberia has the highest number of infections and deaths with 4,249 and 2,458 respectively, followed by Sierra Leone with 3,252 and 1,183; and Guinea with 1,472 and 843 cases.

On October 16, the UN Security Council called on the international community to quickly and widely support countries affected by the Ebola virus.

The head of the UN's Ebola emergency response mission, Anthony Banbury, admitted that in humanity's battle against Ebola, Ebola is winning.

The Ebola virus is rapidly evolving. There are currently six types of the virus, each of which rapidly evolves into other subtypes. At this point, no one knows exactly how many types of the virus have been formed. Virologists say that in addition to the first virus, discovered in Zaire (now Congo) in 1976, there are now different genotypes that have mutated from it. This is the Ebola-Sudan virus.

Another was found in Côte d'Ivoire. Another was found in Uganda. Then there was the Reston virus isolated in the United States and Italy from monkeys in the Philippines. Most recently, an Ebola virus genotype was isolated from bats in Spain. So, a heterogeneous group of viruses, very different from the original Ebola virus. That diversity shows evolution. So, certain mutations occur.

Environmental workers prepare to disinfect the second female nurse infected with Ebola living in an apartment in Bend East, Dallas, Texas on October 15.

The worst part is that each strain of the virus requires its own vaccine. For example, there have been vaccines for Ebola-Zaire and Ebola-Sudan for a long time. But these vaccines are only effective against the strains they produce. That is, Ebola-Zaire is ineffective against all other cases of Ebola fever.

A synthetic vaccine is needed. Experts around the world are working on it now. Progress is being made, but widespread use is still six months or a year away.

A few days ago, China decided to send West African countries the experimental JK-05 vaccine, developed at the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences for the needs of the Chinese military in case of emergency. And now doctors are ready to try the vaccine for themselves in case of an Ebola threat. But the vaccine is not yet widely used because it is not licensed.

The problem is that the initial symptoms of Ebola are similar to those of the flu or a cold – patients feel weak, have a fever, and a sore throat. And within a few days, they will develop vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, and internal and external bleeding. When these symptoms appear, the disease is easy to diagnose and the patient is isolated, but this is often missed.

According to WHO, if the world cannot cope with the Ebola epidemic, about 10,000 people will be infected every week.

According to Petrotimes.vn