Ebola information; Lancet article

[Ian A. York]

First, anyone interested in learning more about Ebola virus can look at 
the list of sites at the end of this post.  Anyone interested in learning 
more about virology in general should read Ed Rybicki's on-line tutorial 
at http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/Tutorial.html    or at 
http://www.uct.ac.za/microbiology/virtut1.html

There is more virology information and links at 
http://www.uct.ac.za/microbiology/

The May 20 edition of The Lancet has an article on the strain of Ebola 
found in chimpanzees in Cote-d'Ivoire earlier this year.  This is 
apparently *not* the same strain that is in Kikwit.  

The genome sequence of the Cote-d'Ivoire virus is not available.  Based on
antibody reactivity, it is different from the three previously known Ebola
strain (Reston, Zaire, and Sudan).  It is apparently most similar to
Zaire. 

Two points of interest to regular readers of this group:  (1)  I'm a 
little surprised to note that there was no mortality in suckling mice 
injected with this virus intracerebrally.  (2)  The hypothesis that Ebola 
might be a plant virus has been raised elsewhere.  The reference cited in 
the article is a little confusing: they call it Johnson's hypothesis, but 
cute an article (Murphy F: In: S. Pattyn, ed.  Pathology of Ebola virus 
infection in Ebola virus haemmorhagic fever.  Elsevier/North-Holland 
Biomedical Press, 1978) lacking Johnsons altogether.  There is a 
reference with a Johnson, which may be the one they meant:  Johnson K, 
Scribner C, McCormick J.  Ecology of Ebola virus: a first clue?  J Infect 
Dis 1981;143:749-751

Ian

Here is a list of Ebola net resources.  Thanks to Robert Hessler, MD, 
FACEP, from whom I stole this 
information.  

http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/outbreak.html
    Most current info including WHO releases and Reuters News articles

http://www.who.ch/
http://www.who.ch/programmes/cds/ebola.html
    World Health Organization's Ebola info page

http://www.nando.net/newsroom/nt/world.html
    Click on their Ebola link to get other links and information

http://www.cdc.gov/
    The Centers for Disease Control home page
    (select "What's New" from menu)

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/ncid.htm
    The Nation Center for Infectious Diseases

http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/davido/ebola.html
http://ichiban.objarts.com/ebola/ebola.html
httP://outcast.gene.com/ae/WN/SU/ebola_infection.htm
    Several attempts to create a master page for links to the Ebola outbreak

http://outcast.gene.com/ae/WN/NM/interview_murphy.html
    Interview with Dr. Frederick Murphy, one of the first Ebola 
    researchers. Includes some electron-microsope views of the beastie 
    and a bibliography.

http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/ebola.html
    Another reading list

http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/outbreak.html
    Info on, what else, the Ebola outbreak

http://www.uct.ac.za/microbiology/ebola.html
    EMERGING AND RE-EMERGING VIRUSES: AN ESSAY 
    By Alison Jacobson
    Department of Microbiology
    University of Cape Town
    Essay on all the new bugs that are going to kill us

http://www.uct.ac.za/microbiology/ebopage.html
    Links to other info, and general Ebola information

gopher://gopher.stolaf.edu:70/00/Internet%20Resources/
US-State-Department-Travel-Advisories/Current-Advisories/zaire
    Latest State Dept. advisory on Zaire; basically says: RUN AWAY!

gopher://gopher.bio.net/
    Searchable archives of a variety of biology-related mailing lists,
    some of which have Ebola discussions.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/africa/Zaire.GIF
    Map of Zaire, shows location of Kikwit (map's about 256K in size)


-- 
Ian York   (york at mbcrr.harvard.edu)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston MA 02115
Phone (617)-632-3921     Fax  (617)-632-2627