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Article: Ebola Virus: A Mystery With a Deadly Plot
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 30, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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In the rogues' gallery of dangerous microbes, Ebola virus is the
thug who isn't talking.
Since its discovery in 1976, Ebola virus has appeared out of
nowhere 10 times. Nobody knows where it lives when it's not making
people or monkeys ill. Nobody knows why it went into hiding in 1979 -
- or came back in 1989.
We do know it usually kills its victims -- except in the cases
where its attack is so mild that people don't even feel it. And we
know it's transmitted by blood and body fluids -- except in the cases
where it seems to be transmitted by something else.
Scientific investigators have a fat file on Ebola virus, full of
genetic "fingerprints" and microscopic mug shots. What they don't ...