Ebola in Australia Year 9 Latrobe Project Presented by Josh, Matthew and Ryan How well prepared would we be?

Contents Our experiences at Latrobe What is Ebola? - Where did Ebola originate? - Spreading speed of Ebola - When did Ebola first get noticed? Treatment for Ebola - Zmapp Serum - rvsv-ZEBOV Serum - Other treatments Africa compared to Australia - How did Africa react? - How would Australia would react if Ebola hit. - Immune system comparison - Facilities and hospitals Australia has, compared to Africa - How is Australia currently stopping the spread of Ebola?

Contents Big Question conclusion Our opinions Survival story’s What is Latrobe doing? The future of Ebola Academic Q and A Our Thanks Bibliography

Our experiences at Latrobe Josh - The two weeks at Latrobe University were very entertaining and captivating as I was able to learn from the best. Starting the first week with five lectures I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after getting five amazing presentations, one caught my attention and I felt like exploring it more. This presentation was from Mark Kavansakul who masters in Pandemics. With a day of planning my group Ryan, Matt and I decided to explore the topic of Ebola. We found this topic very interesting as it is spreading in West Africa killing thousands of people. After researching the topic we came up with “If Ebola was to spread to Australia, how well prepared would we be?” as our main overall question. Then we broke it up into three sections and started researching our part. After 2 weeks of hard work we presented our own book with all our research and resources from Latrobe. The project was a great experience and I would like to thanks Mrs. Marrota, the teachers and all the academics for making the project very intriguing and fun.

Our experiences at Latrobe Ryan - For me Latrobe was a whole new experience, something school couldn’t offer us. We spent a full two weeks at Latrobe University, where we were treated as Uni students. We were fully independent, making decisions when we go for lunch, when and where we study and organization of our groups. For me I thoroughly enjoyed this because it gave us a taste of what Uni life actually was, which a lot tougher than I expected. One of the many amazing studying facilities that my group and I took use of a lot was the library’s study booths. In the Study booths there were two long seats with a huge computer screen where we could hook up our computer and share and present our information with our group. This was a great study area and we got most of our work completed their, away from the noise from our classroom. Overall I believe this experience was something that a lot of other school wouldn’t be offered and I consider ourselves very lucky. This Latrobe program was so enjoyable because most of it was very organized and free flowing because of our amazing teachers and Mrs. Marrota.

Matthew - Latrobe started with 5 lectures throughout the first two days and all of the lectures were very interesting and grabbed my attention but one topic with a very amusing lecturer grabbed my attention the most, which was Mark Kvansukul’s Pandemic talk. It was very interesting to learn about all of the different types of pandemics and how some of them are so much more deadly than others and some of the diseases we are nowhere near finding a cure. I think that I found this lecture so much more interesting because of the fact that Mark added a lot of humour to the lecture so it wasn’t as intense as some of the others. Being setup in the lims building is also a great experience with having the opportunity to have all of the great advantages of the building plus the whole university. I think one of the best buildings at Latrobe is the library with multiple levels with all of their own advantages, with a lot of great information in hundreds of books but there is also a lot of great working space where you can work quietly and efficiently. Overall Latrobe University has been a great experience and I think it will help my life a lot in the future.

What is Ebola? The Virus disease Ebola is a disease of humans and other primates caused by Ebola viruses. Symptoms of the disease usually begins in two and three weeks after contracting the virus with a fever, headache, sore throat, and muscular pains. It is usually followed by vomiting, diarrhea and rashes, along with decreased function of the kidneys and liver. At this phase people begin to bleed both internally and externally.

Where did Ebola originate? The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, outbreaks of the virus are sporadically in Africa, with a range of Africa’s jungles effected. The remote tree, hollow Cola growing in the area of south-eastern Guinea once used to be the home of several bats regularly hunted and killed by the neighborhoods children. This location was commonly used as spot to play for the younger children in the neighborhood. In December 2013 a two year old boy died who lived within a close radius to the tree. It was believed that the Bats in the hollow Cola tree carried the deadly Ebola and was speared into the child. As later that year it was discovered that the boy was infected by Ebola which coming in counter with Ebola

Spreading speed of Ebola Ebola takes roughly 8-10 days to start to show symptoms on people which means that some people can spread the disease without even realizing. When someone has attracted the Ebola virus disease, by going on transport or hanging around groups can cause the virus to spread. It can go on from 1 person having it to 5, then 20 the next day and that’s how the virus keeps spreading. The Ebola spreads between through humans through transmission via direct contact (Peeled skin) with the blood, organs, secretions, and with surfaces and materials (bleeding, clothing) and with these contaminated fluids.

When did Ebola first get noticed: Ebola was first noticed in 1976 near the Ebola River, since then outbreaks have been spreading in Africa. Researchers believe that the virus was from an animal, most likely to be a bat. They first appeared in 2 simultaneous outbreaks. One of them in Nzara, Sudan, and the other one in Yambuku, democratic Republic of Congo.

Treatment for Ebola There is no real cure for Ebola at the moment, but researches are working hard to find one. The main treatment at the moment is an experimental serum that destroys infected cells. This serum is called ZMapp and sometimes classified as the “secret serum” ZMapp This drug was developed by the biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, which is based in San Diego. The company was founded in 2003 "to develop novel pharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. ZMapp is a drug engineered in a lab, meaning it doesn’t just contain regular antibody’s, it contains monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are similar to regular antibodies but instead of providing proteins to the immune system, the antibodies attach to specific parts of a dangerous cell; mimicking your immune system’s natural response.

Treatment for Ebola