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ArticleTitle	Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF): Mechanism of Transmission and Pathogenicity
AuthorList	Milanga Mwanatambwe1, Nobutaka Yamada1, Satoru Arai1, Masumi Shimizu-Suganuma2, Kazuhiro Shichinohe2 and Goro Asano1
Affiliation	1Department of Pathology and 2Department of Laboratory Animal Sciences, Nippon Medical School
Language	EN
Volume	68
Issue	5
Year	2001
Page	370-375
Received	April 6, 2001
Accepted	July 16, 2001
Keywords	Ebola, fever, transmission, pathogenicity, Congo
Abstract	Hemorrhagic fevers represent a wide spectrum of viral infectious diseases, out-breaking mostly as epidemics, some of them being highly lethal. They range from those caused by bunyaviridae, associated with renal or pulmonary syndromes and those recently emerging and caused by the filoviridae family of thread-like viruses. Among the latter, Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) bears the highest mortality and morbidity rates. One form of the disease has been documented only in monkeys. The human form, has occurred mainly in areas surrounding rain forests in central Africa. Patients present with signs of hemorrhagic diathesis, fever, diarrhea and neurological disorders, leading sometimes to confusion with local endemic diseases. Fatal victims of the disease die of dehydration. Poor hygienic conditions facilitate the spread of the virus. Biologically, the virus seems to target both the host blood coagulative and immune defense systems. Intensive epidemiologic search have failed to establish the definitive natural host of the virus. Twice, with a 19-year interval, major outbreaks have taken place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The second major outbreak in the northwestern city of Kikwit in April 1995 will serve here to elucidate the mechanism of the viral infection.
Correspondence to	Milanga Mwanatambwe, Department of Pathology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Bunkyo-Ku, Sendagi, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan