Ebola virus

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The Ebola virus is an RNA virus endemic to the Ebola valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

History

The Ebola virus was discovered in Africa 1976. With a mortality rate of 90%, the Umbrella Corporation was interested in utilising it as a bioweapon. By 1978 Umbrella had acquired a sample for the Arklay Laboratory to work with, under the claim it was researching a possible cure. Drs. William Birkin and Albert Wesker were drafted into the research project upon their transfer to the facility.

The flaws Umbrella saw in the virus were its tendency to kill the host in a short amount of time, and reliance on direct contact while the host is seriously ill. These 'flaws' made the natural virus fairly easy to quarantine. To make up for these flaws, Umbrella considered modifying the virus, coming up with possible solutions such as lessening its impact on the immune system to let the host keep on walking; affecting the host's state-of-mind so they're more likely to infect people, and altering the host's DNA to make them less likely to die from infection. With potential modifications such as these, Umbrella saw potential for marketing. It was Dr. Birkin's idea to merge Ebola into Dr. Marcus' modified Progenitor Virus as part of the t-Virus Plan, utilising immuno-suppresent genes VP24 and VP25 in particular.

See also

• Anthrax
• Norovirus
• Poliovirus
• SARS coronavirus