|
|
Ebola—The Plague Fighters
|
|
|
|
Program Overview
|
|
|
The Ebola filovirus causes a very deadly and highly contagious disease.
Outbreaks thus far have been limited due to the implementation of strict
isolation, sterilization, and waste disposal procedures; the remoteness of
areas in which the outbreaks appeared; and the fact that the virus kills so
quickly that many of its victims die before it can be transmitted. Most
recently, the Ebola virus struck in the city of Kikwit in Zaire, Africa, in
early 1995 and killed almost 250 people before it was contained. Medical
experts and relief workers went to work quickly to locate victims, to provide
educational and prevention services to neighbors and families, and to research
the Ebola virus. This NOVA program follows the medical researchers and doctors
as they work to prevent the virus from wiping out an entire community and to
locate where the virus originated.
|
|
