“The human virus bomb explodes. Military biohazard specialists have a way of describing this occurrence. They say that the victim has 'crashed and bled out.' Or more politely they say that the victim has 'gone down.' He becomes dizzy and utterly weak, and his spine goes limp and nerveless and he loses all sense of balance. The room is turning around and around. He is going into shock. He leans over, head on his knees, and brings up an incredible quantity of blood from his stomach and spills it onto the floor with a gasping groan.
"He loses consciousness and pitches forward onto the floor. The only sound is a choking in his throat as he continues to vomit while unconscious. Then come a sound like bedside being torn in half, which is the sound of his bowels opening and venting blood from sloughed his gut. The linings of his intestines have come off and are being expelled along with huge amount of blood.”
With Ebola in the spotlight as cases have popped up on American soil, learn about this sinister killer and four of its brethren you never want to catch:
Ebola
Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola Virus Disease, or simply Ebola, is the stuff of nightmares. This killer begins to affect a patient between two and 21 days after exposure (with an average incubation time around eight to 10 days). Early symptoms mimic those of the flu or cold virus and evolve to include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness and fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained hemorrhaging.
The mortality rate for certain strains of Ebola is up to 90 percent, making it an efficient virus. This disease is spread through contact with blood and body secretions. There is currently no standard treatment for this disease, only supportive therapy and care. The disease has claimed more than 5,400 lives -- more than 2,200 in the current outbreak.