ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Espionage, Intelligence, and Security Volume ...

E-Bombin England developed Ebola fever as a result of a laboratoryaccident in which the worker was punctured by anEbola-containing needle.The Ebola virus produces a high fever, headache,muscle aches, abdominal pain, tiredness and diarrheawithin a few days after infecting a person. Some peoplewill also display bloody diarrhea and vomit blood. At thisstage of the disease some people recover. But, for most ofthose who are infected, the disease progresses withindays to produce copious internal bleeding, shock and death.Outbreaks of infection with the Ebola virus appearsporadically and suddenly. The outbreak rapidly movesthrough the local population and often just as quicklyends. The initial infection is presumable by contact betweenthe person and the animal that harbors the virus.Subsequent person-to-person spread likely occurs by contaminationwith the infected blood or body tissues of aninfected person in the home or hospital setting, or viacontaminated needles. The fact that infected people tendto be in more under-developed regions, where even thehealth care facilities are not as likely to be equipped withisolation wards, furthers the risk of spread. The person-topersonpassage is immediate; unlike the animal host,people do not harbor the virus for lengthy periods of time.The possibility of air-borne transmission of the virusis debatable. Ebola-Reston may well have been transmittedfrom monkey to monkey in the Reston military facilityvia the air distribution system, since some of the monkeysthat were infected were never in physical contact with theother infected monkeys. However, if the other species ofthe virus are capable of similar transmission, this has notyet been documented. Laboratory studies have shownthat Ebola virus can remain infectious when aerosolized.But the current consensus is that airborne transmission ispossible but plays a minor role in the spread of the virus.In the intervening years between the sporadic outbreaks,the Ebola virus probably is resident in the naturalreservoir.Currently there is no cure for the infection caused bythe Ebola virus. However, near the end of an outbreak ofthe virus in 1995 in Kikwit, Africa, blood products fromsurvivors of the infection were transfused into those activelyexperiencing the disease. Of those eight people whoreceived the blood, only one person died. Whether or notthe transfused blood conveyed protective factor was notascertained. A detailed examination of this possibilityawaits another outbreak.The molecular basis for the establishment of an infectionby the Ebola virus is still also more in the realm ofproposal than fact. One clue has been the finding of aglycoprotein that is a shortened version of the viral constituentin the in the circulating fluid of humans andmonkeys. This protein has been suggested to function as adecoy for the immune system, diverting the immunedefenses from the actual site of viral infection. AnotherEncyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Securityimmunosuppressive mechanism may be the selective invasionand damage of the spleen and the lymph nodes,which are vital in the functioning of the immune system.The devastating infection caused by the Ebola virus isall the more remarkable given the very small size of theviral genome, or complement of genetic material. Fewerthan a dozen genes have been detected. How the virusestablishes an infection and evades the host immunesystem with only the capacity to code for less than twelveproteins is unknown.❚ FURTHER READING:BOOKS:Cormican, M. G. and M. A. Pfaller. “Molecular Pathologyof Infectious Diseases,” in Clinical Diagnosis and Managementby Laboratory Methods, 20th ed. Philadelphia:W. B. Saunders, 2001.PERIODICALS:Peters, C. J., and J. W. LeDuc. “An Introduction to Ebola:The Virus and the Disease.” The Journal of InfectiousDiseases no. 179 (Supplement 1, February 1999): ix–xvi.ELECTRONIC:Centers for Disease Control. “Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever.”2001. (March 12, 2003).———. “Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers.” 2000. (March 12, 2003).SEE ALSOBiological WarfareBiological Weapons, Genetic IdentificationBioshield ProjectBioterrorismCDC (United States Centers for Disease Control andPrevention)Hemorrhagic Fevers and DiseasesViral BiologyE-BombAn e-bomb, or electronic bomb, is a non-explosive artilleryshell that sends out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) ofenormous power, capable of permanently disabling mechanicaland electronic systems. The concept developedin the 1920s, and was later recognized as an unintendedconsequence of nuclear explosions. By the beginning ofthe twenty-first century, United States and British scientistshad the technology to develop e-bombs. At the sametime, some observers warned that terrorists might becapable of building their own, much less sophisticated,devices for a fraction of the cost to a superpower.369