Ebola fever is an infectious disease that has spread on the African continent and elsewhere; it is accompanied by high fever; bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract, nose, skin, and other parts of the body; vomiting of blood; and melena. Since 1970 outbreaks have been confirmed in Zaire, Sudan, and other African countries, and while the virus was discovered in 1976, no vaccine or treatment has yet been developed.

Infection occurs from blood, body secretions, and excrement, and although airborne transmission does not occur Ebola is virulent with a high mortality of 50% to 90%. In 1976 when the virus was discovered, 280 of 318 people with the disease, or 88%, died over a period of about two months in Zaire. The Ebola virus is also known to be transmitted between apes and humans. Bats are suspected hosts of the virus, but this has not been proven.

The Ebola virus has eight genes, and Professor Kawaoka’s group created a virus that lacks one of these genes, VP30, which is related to replication. Since viruses that lack VP30 do not proliferate in normal environments, humans are not infected and do not develop the disease. The gene manipulation used the techniques of reverse genetics that have been developed in recent years.

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