[Table/Fig-6]:
Types and brief description of five different recognized sub species of Ebola Virus [9]
| 1. Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV), now known as Ebola (EBOV) virus | Ebola virus outbreaks took place for the first time in Yambuku, Zaire in the year 1976. The virus causing such outbreaks has been named as Zaire Ebola virus. It is the most dangerous species of Ebola virus that has claimed to have the largest number of Ebola virus victims leading to highest number of Ebola virus deaths. Mortality rate is 80-90%. Its symptoms include a chilly feeling accompanied with high fever which shares its similarity with the symptoms of malaria. |
| 2. Sudan ebolavirus (SEBOV) | This is a second kind of Ebola virus species believed to have originated in Nzara, Sudan in 1976. The first cases of Sudan Ebola virus can be traced to the cotton factory workers of Sudan who were exposed to the same. The outbreak of Sudan Ebola virus was simultaneous with the outbreak of Zaire Ebola virus. The disease also broke out in 1979, 2000 and 2004, most recently. The agent of transmission for Sudan Ebola virus is still unknown but it has an average fatality rate of 41- 65%. |
| 3. Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV) | Outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Bundibugyo district of Uganda in 2007 and 2008 led to the detection of a species of Ebola virus that was hitherto unknown. This Ebola virus was named after its place of outbreak and there were at least 100 or more Ebola virus victims. It has a reported fatality rate of 30%. |
| 4. Ivory Coast ebolavirus (CIEBOV) / Taï Forest ebolavirus (TAFV) | The origin of Ivory Coast Ebola virus can be traced to Tai forests of the Côte d’Ivoire in Africa, where a female ethnologist conducting necropsy on a dead infected chimpanzee got herself accidentally infected. The initial outbreak was among the wild African chimpanzees in 1994. The next outbreak of this virus took place in 1995 in south of DRC. Its infection has reported only one non fatal case. |
| 5. Reston ebolavirus (REBOV) | It was discovered in 1989 in Reston, Virginia when infected monkeys were imported into Reston from Philippines. It has shown to cause disease in nonhuman primates such as monkeys, but is non pathogenic in humans. Deaths have not been reported with this virus as infected individuals have shown sero conversion and survival. Ebola Reston virus outbreaks have thereafter occurred in Texas and Italy. Interestingly, Ebola Reston virus in pigs has been detected very recently in its outbreak in Philippines. |