{"id":15529,"date":"2020-09-18T13:08:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T17:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15529"},"modified":"2020-09-27T15:16:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T19:16:36","slug":"thomas-geisbert-the-hot-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/thomas-geisbert-the-hot-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Geisbert: An Intern Recognizes Ebola"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who is Thomas Geisbert? What was his role in researching Ebola?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Geisbert was an intern at USAMRIID when the Reston monkey house<\/a> outbreak first emerged. Geisbert recognized the virus as a filovirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to find out how Thomas Geisbert helped identify this strain of Ebola. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thomas Geisbert Examines Reston Monkey Sample Cell Cultures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Geisbert, an intern at USAMRIID, grew curious about the cultures that Jahrling was growing from the Reston monkey sample. Despite being just an intern, Thomas Geisbert specialized in taking high-powered electron-microscope photos and identifying the viruses he saw. He had studied the distinct shapes of various viruses and committed many to memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under a standard light microscope, the Reston cultures looked like they\u2019d been contaminated by outside bacteria. When bacteria destroy cultures, they create a smell\u2014and when Thomas Geisbert and Jahrling opened the flask and took a few whiffs, they didn\u2019t smell anything. <\/strong>However, they decided to put it under the electron microscope for a closer look anyway. It was the Friday before Thanksgiving, and they wouldn\u2019t be back at the lab until a week-and-a-half later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geisbert Recognizes Filovirus Particles<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After the holiday, Geisbert inspected the supposedly contaminated cells under his electron microscope. He recognized what he saw: The cells were bulging with rope-like viruses, just like he\u2019d seen in pictures of samples from Cardinal\u2019s blood. It was a filovirus, but the threads were less curled than Marburg virus<\/a> particles. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geisbert printed the images and showed Jahrling. Jahrling recognized the signature thread-like shapes. Although there were some differences between the cells in Geisbert\u2019s photos and the images of Marburg in the textbook they consulted, it was close enough to be concerning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Geisbert and Jahrling thought of how they\u2019d sniffed the flask with the cell cultures, and they worried about their exposure. <\/strong>It had been 10 days, and neither had developed any symptoms\u2014but they were in the middle of the incubation period, so they weren\u2019t in the clear yet. They decided to take the wait-and-see approach, meanwhile testing their blood to check for signs of infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jahrling and Geisbert Sound the Alarm<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Jahrling alerted Colonel Clarence Peters, the chief of USAMRIID\u2019s disease-assessment division. Peters, Jahrling, and Thomas Geisbert considered the possibilities<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n