Introduction
"No pestilence has ever been so fatal, or so hideous."
Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death, 1842.
"Filoviridae is the only known virus family about which we have such
profound ignorance."
C.J. Peters and J.W. LeDuc of the National Center for Infectious Diseases,
Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
A little more than 30 years have passed since the discovery of Filoviridae at
the Behringwerke laboratory in Marburg, Germany in August 1967. There,
three workers became ill with a hemorrhagic fever after contact with
organs from African green monkeys. In the course of the epidemic, 17
individuals were infected; two months later, Marburg was first identified, a
feat considered remarkable even by present day standards. Since that
outbreak, confirmed cases have appeared sporadically in Zimbabwe, South
Africa, and Kenya.
In 1976, a second Filovirus emerged in two epidemics that occurred
simultaneously in both Zaire and Sudan and was therefore named after the
Ebola river in northwestern Zaire. Eventually, over 500 cases were
reported; mortality rates hit as high as 88% fatality in Zaire and 53% in
Sudan. Ebola outbreaks ensued in both countries in 1977 and 1979. Ebola
virus was then first observed in West Africa in 1994 in Cote d'Ivoire. In
1995, virus outbreak occurred in Kikwit, Zaire causing 315 cases resulting
in 245 deaths (77.77% fatality).
Read about a recent 1999 outbreak of Marburg virus in, once again, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
All outbreaks have the following in common. They have been self-limited
and have resulted in a relatively few number of incident cases. The total
number of human infections thus far does not exceed one thousand cases.
However, given the extreme rate of fatality, the dramatic course of
infection, and the current lack of treatment, outbreaks remain a serious
cause for international concern. Currently, very little is known concerning
the family. Research has yet to reveal viral maintenance strategies; even
less is known about the resulting diseases, their pathogenesis and their
molecular virology. The web pages designed by previous students have
established a solid background in describing what is known about this
family. Specifically, our web page seek to expand and build on that
information.
Take a look at filovirus pages by previous students:
The Exquisite 1998 Filovirus Page by Tara Waterman
The Wonderful 1999 Filovirus Page by Yunnie Lee
Back to Main Page!
Last modified: Mon Mar 6 06:43:22 PST 2000