The largest outbreak of Ebola ever recorded is happening in West Africa. Since February this year, more than 1000 people have been killed by the Ebola virus. Last week, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Ebola virus is zoonotic, meaning it has the ability to spread from animals to people. Bats are thought to be the natural host, but the virus also infects chimpanzees, gorillas and humans. It can spread between people if someone has close contact with a sick person’s blood or bodily fluids. It is not spread by coughing and sneezing like the flu.
Australia, Europe and the USA are pretty safe, as we have a lot of equipment, doctors and hospitals and could stop Ebola spreading. However, it’s still a scary disease because the only treatments are experimental, meaning they haven’t been fully tested for safety, or to see if they work. In West Africa, poverty and other problems are making it much harder to control the disease.
Glenn Marsh from CSIRO is doing research to understand why the African Ebola virus strains are so deadly to people. “In Africa, there are four different species of Ebola virus, all cause fatal disease. There is also another Ebola virus found in South-East Asia called Reston ebolavirus, and even though it can infect people, it doesn’t cause any disease, not even mild flu-like symptoms,” he says. “We want to investigate the difference.”
Glenn works at CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory – one of the few places in the world where scientists can work safely with the virus.
To keep safe while studying the deadly virus, scientists wear a sealed outfit like a spacesuit. The garment is connected to a hose in the ceiling that supplies clean air. Working safely comes with challenges. You can’t eat, drink or go to the toilet in the laboratory, and the suit includes tear-resistant gloves, similar to thick dishwashing gloves.
“We’re used to working at this level of containment, we’ve been doing it for years,” says Glenn. The team previously worked on another deadly zoonotic disease – the Hendra virus. Also carried by bats, it infects horses and people. CSIRO successfully developed a horse vaccine against Hendra three years ago. Hopefully success comes swiftly to the scientists across the world working to understand, cure and prevent Ebola.
CSIRO scientist Glenn Marsh working at the highest level of biosecurity. Image: CSIRO
Quiz questions
Which gemstone is made from a single element?
In physics, alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays are types of what?
What is pomology the study of?
When two hydrogen atoms combine to form a helium atom, what is it called? Is it a) fusion, b) fission or c) friction?
Which has more bones in a human, a hand (including wrist and fingers) or a foot (including ankle and toes)?
National Science Week
Now in its seventeenth year, National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of all things science. Over 1000 events will take place across the country next week, starting this Saturday. From 16–24 August, activities will be delivered by universities, schools, museums and science centres, just to name a few.
Head to the National Science Week website for details on events to attend, find competitions and online activities as well as how to get involved in our online citizen science project Weather Detective.
Try this: Colourful cleaning
Put a twenty-cent sized blob of paint onto one gloved hand.
Rub your hands together as though you were washing them normally.
Are there any parts of the gloves that did not get paint on them?
See if you can cover any missing areas in paint using some extra hand washing moves.
Try to remove the gloves so that you don’t get any paint on your hands.
Once you have removed the gloves, throw them away and check your hands for paint.
Wash your hands with soap and water using your excellent hand washing style.
You will need
Disposable gloves
Water-based paint
What to do
Put on a pair of gloves.
Put a twenty-cent sized blob of paint onto one gloved hand.
Close your eyes.
Rub your hands together as though you were washing them normally, and the paint was liquid soap. Try not to get paint on your clothes!
When you’ve finished your usual style of hand washing, open your eyes.
Look carefully at the gloves. Are there any parts of the gloves that did not get paint on them? These are parts you might miss when you usually wash your hands with soap.
See if you can cover any missing areas in paint using some extra hand washing moves. Maybe you could try rubbing between your fingers, or around the back of your hand. These moves could help you wash your hands better when you’re using soap.
When you’re happy with your hand washing style, it’s time to remove the gloves. Try to remove the gloves so that you don’t get any paint on your hands. Throw the gloves away.
Check your hands for any spots of paint – the glove might have had a hole in it, or you might have gotten some on you when you took the gloves off.
Wash your hands with soap and water using your excellent hand washing style.
What’s happening?
Hand washing is a great way to stop illness spreading. During the day, our hands are often busy and get dirty. Washing your hands helps to get rid of dirt and germs that can make you sick.
It’s especially important to wash your hands well before you touch food, as well as after you go to the toilet, blow your nose or touch anything yuck. You also need to wash your hands when you look after someone who is sick, to help stop their sickness spreading to you.
You can’t always see that your hands are dirty, because you need a microscope to see germs. Washing with paint is a good way to see which parts of your hands you are cleaning well, and which parts need more attention.
The best hand washing style uses soap and clean water and takes at least 15 seconds, that’s the amount of time it takes to sing the 'Happy birthday' song from start to finish – twice!
Applications
As well as making your hand washing style better, this activity shows how to remove gloves carefully. Gloves can protect hands from germs, but they don’t work if, after touching something gross, you then touch the outside of the glove with your bare hands.
If you had any spots of paint on your hand after carefully removing your gloves, the gloves might have had a hole in them. Some gloves are a bit broken before you even put them on – this is called a pinhole defect. Other times you might get a hole in your gloves if they rub on your watch or anything sharp. Scientists and surgeons sometimes use two pairs of gloves to give them extra protection.
Accidents do happen, even if you don’t notice them. So washing your hands is still important even if you have been wearing gloves.
Science fiction movies imagine tractor beams as a bright light that pulls an object from the ground into an alien spacecraft. Watch the video below to see how scientists at the Australian National University have created a tractor beam in water, using waves to pull objects towards them or push them away.
Quiz answers
Diamond is made from a single element, carbon.
Alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays are types of radiation.
Pomology is the study of fruit.
a) Fusion is the process in which two hydrogen atoms combine to form a helium atom.
The hand has more bones, but only just. A human hand has 27 bones, while a foot has 26.
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