Bethany Michel
Leon Hsu
Humans and Viruses
Winter 2004
Professor Robert Siegel

 

                                

                                                                     FILOVIRIDAE                 

                                                                                    

 Ebola, NIAH, niah.naro.affrc.go.jp/disease/ ebola/ebola.html                                                                                        Ebola, www.conspire.com/ current8.html

                                                                                                    

The viruses that make up Filoviridae are responsible for causing severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. The two members of this viral family have been identified as Marburg and Ebola with four species within Ebola:  Ivory Coast, Sudan, Zaire, and Reston. While Ebola-Reston is not known to cause severe disease in humans, the other three are known to be extremely lethal with mortality rates as high as 88% (Ebola Zaire, 1976). 

Molecular Background:  Filoviridae consists of a group of viruses that have single-stranded RNA, negative polarity, and monopartite nucleic acid.  In addition, their capsids are characterized as having a long, filamentous shape with helical symmetry.  These viruses produce seven proteins including RNA dependent RNA polymerase (L), nucleocapsid protein  (NP),  glycoprotein, and four glycosylated viral proteins (VPs).  Furthermore, the mRNAs are characterized as being monocistronic, polyadenylated , and uncapped with one genomic and seven subgenomic positive sense mRNAs.

 

                                                          

                                                            yunus.hacettepe.edu.tr/ ~coner/VIR/2/Ebola.htm

 

 

Profiles of Ebola and Marburg

Recent Findings Since 2002

            Ebola Outbreaks

            Experimental Findings

Drug Profiles

Pathogen Cards

 

 

For a gorgeous National Geographic photo gallery of the 2001 Ebola outbreak in Uganda: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0105/first.html

For more information on filoviruses, see previous Humans & Viruses students' fantastic webpages: http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/1999/yunnie/filovirus.html#PROFILING%20FILOVIRIDAE and  http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/filo/2000/character.html

ICTVdB site on Filoviruses: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/ICTVdB/25010000.htm

 

* Pictures removed upon request. Contact: bmichel@stanford.edu or leonhsu@stanford.edu