Ebola: I Guess We Are All Going To Die

I found this interesting remark on another forum. It's worth reading.

Can Ebola mutate to a more virulent species? Absolutely. In fact, the strain that's causing so much panic in West Africa has never been seen before. As long ago as December of 2013, the WHO and CDC knew it was a new strain.

Does this new strain have different strategies for spreading more efficiently? It would seem so given the record-setting number of cases (1300+ as of today) and the silence since April from the world's prominent health agencies. I would really like to know that the WHO and CDC are exploring the capabilities of this new strain.
 
Every Ebola outbreak is a new strain, unless it was released from a lab. Being a virus, is has a similar ability to mutate as what the flu does.
In laymans terms: When DNA (or RNA) is replicated, there is an error checking mechanism built in. In higher order animals etc, this spell check is pretty good. In viruses, it is abysmal, hence the rapid mutations, and the general lack of vaccines against viral diseases.

Now that it is mentioned, im off to look up the CDC response...

EDIT: The CDC (US Center for Disease Control - normally the global go to for this stuff) says not much other than the stats on clinical/lab diagnoses and deaths. It does have this pic on transmission though. Basically, the enzootic part always occurs. The epizootic part happens when the virus mutates in a way that can infect humans/primates/mammals. Im sure there are plenty of outbreaks in the animal population that we never hear about as well.
EBOLA_ecology_800px.jpg
 
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Firstly, it would have been a different strain in the experiment, so the results are not a perfect analogue to the current outbreak. Secondly, the article (also from 2012) sensationalises the transmission from pigs to monkeys, but in the source article (kudos for bothering to look at it @GTracer98) it says (my comments in bold):

We have also never observed transmission of EBOV (Ebola) from infected to naive macaques, including in an experiment employing the same cage setting as in the current study, where three NHPs intramuscularly (monkeys injected with) inoculated with EBOV did not transmit the virus to one naive NHP for 28 days, the duration of the protocol. During another study, three EBOV infected NHPs cohabiting with 10 naive NHPs in adjacent cage systems did not transmit the virus to naive animals for 28 days (unpublished data). The exact route of infection of the NHPs is impossible to discern with certitude because they were euthanized at a time when EBOV had already spread systemically. (This last sentence is quite important too - monkeys were killed before the disease could kill them - animal ethics rules).

My understanding of the specifics of this strain are that it is transmitted by body fluids only (mainly saliva/blood), so even if someone unwittingly brought it to the developed world, it should be able to be contained pretty quickly. It doesnt survive at all well as an aerosol. The absolute worst (in terms of transmission) diseases transmit that way.

I hope that explains a bit. I am not right on top of Ebola specifically, but I know a little about routes of transmission of disease in general.
 
mister dog
I'm getting a bit nervous here already...

In case doom would strike and it contaminates our countries what would you guys think would be some sort of protection? Wear facemasks and surgical gloves when going out?
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My best advice if there is an outbreak near you is: Run about in a blind panic screaming and waving your hands above your head .
 
buck1
My best advice if there is an outbreak near you is: Run about in a blind panic screaming and waving your hands above your head .
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Running in rounds gives the best impression no? :D

ps. Nice avatar, i'll copy your location if you don't mind ;)
 
prisonermonkeys
You're right. It should be Africa's problem. It's their fault that they got sick in the first place. After all, they were stupid enough to be born there.
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Please point to where I said it is there fault? I would definitely like to see as I don't ever recall saying that, nor does my post.

So, I have an idea: accept the Ebola patient. And in the meantime, send Crispy to Liberia. It's easy for him to condemn hundreds, if not thousands of people to a horrifying death from his ivory tower, even when he knows that his country has the power to contain any infected patients without posing any threat to the community. Just so long as it doesn't affect him directly.
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Where did I say to just condemn them? Maybe you misread. Just because we're keeping a patient in one location doesn't mean we are pulling all aid, including those from international workers. I don't think we should move anyone from any country. The chance of the virus spreading is too much. Bring the aid to them.

And don't give me the same BS about how it has no chance of infecting someone. They said the same thing about the protective suits the two aid workers were wearing, and look what has happened to them.
 
Barra333
My understanding of the specifics of this strain are that it is transmitted by body fluids only (mainly saliva/blood), so even if someone unwittingly brought it to the developed world, it should be able to be contained pretty quickly. It doesnt survive at all well as an aerosol. The absolute worst (in terms of transmission) diseases transmit that way.
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BBC
She said the outbreak was the deadliest and most widely spread, and had also demonstrated an ability to spread through air travel, unlike past outbreaks.
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Source

That's what I thought marked this outbreak out from others, its ability for aerial transmission?
 
Crispy
Please point to where I said it is there fault? I would definitely like to see as I don't ever recall saying that, nor does my post.
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Your post comes across as xenophobic, unwilling to help those in need because of your own fears, despite the way your country has the best chance at actually finding a long-term solution with a minimal risk to the community.

Where did I say to just condemn them? Maybe you misread. Just because we're keeping a patient in one location doesn't mean we are pulling all aid, including those from international workers. I don't think we should move anyone from any country. The chance of the virus spreading is too much. Bring the aid to them.
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Yes, throw money at the problem. That will fix it. Especially since it would take months to build adequate facilities in West Africa. It's a much better solution than transporting a patient under quarantine to a specialised facility for treatment and observation by a group of doctors who have spent their lives studying the disease.

That is where you said you would condemn them - by denying the best possible treatment.

And don't give me the same BS about how it has no chance of infecting someone. They said the same thing about the protective suits the two aid workers were wearing, and look what has happened to them.
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You do know that the patient would be treated at a facility specifically designed to carry out research into the most dangerous and contagious diseases in the world, right? What did you think was going to happen? That they'd put the patient in a public hospital wing with a sign reading DO NOT ENTER taped yo the door?
 
GTracer98
What are the ways in which Ebola can spread? I read that it doesn't need any physical contact...

Full experiment: http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00811.html
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Sometimes vapor is enough to spread the virus. That's what they mean when they say close contact. You don't have to french kiss someone or get beaned by slungpoo or take a money shot or anything crazy like that. If you're close enough to feel someone's hot breath, they've probably deposited water vapor on your skin and it could contain the virus. Standing in a crowded bus or train, for example, also puts you within cough-, or certainly sneeze-shot.(snotshot?)
 
Ugly news.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ebola-terror-gatwick-passenger-collapses-3977051

Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick.

Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic.

The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board.

She died in hospital on Saturday.

Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone.

A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February.

Tests were carried out to see if the woman had the disease.

The plane was quarantined as officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman.

Airport workers faced an anxious wait to see if the woman had Ebola. One said: “Everyone’s just petrified."


 
Carbonox
Why was a person from an infected area allowed to travel to Britain? 👎
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:rolleyes:. The 4 countries affected have a total population of ~40 million. Number of ebola cases = ~1500 = less than 0.004% of the population. And the lady was asymptomatic until she collapsed. Ebola sufferers dont go from healthy to dead in an instant, there is a progression of symptoms.

Also, if you read the article:
“The patient’s symptoms suggest that Ebola is very unlikely but as a precaution this is one of the tests being undertaken.
"The patient was not symptomatic on the plane and therefore there is no risk of Ebola being passed on to either flight crew or other passengers.

and further down (dont know if it was edited into the article or there from the start)

At around 11pm on Sunday, the Department of Health said that tests for the deadly Ebola virus on the woman who died at Gatwick had proved negative.

Oh, and this
 
KSaiyu
Apparently it doesn't exist
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At some point the Ebola outbreak probably ought, in a perfect world, to be contained. However, it would appear denial and superstition must be educated (or beaten and forced?) out of affected populations in order to effectively accomplish this. In a race between this sort of education and the spread of Ebola, I wonder which outcome a betting man would put his money on? :ill:
 
Two Americans (Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol), whom are infected, got injected with a "secret" serum to battle the ebola virus. It has never been tested on humans before and is still in it's experimental stage. It seems that Brantly is much better after getting the serum. Even, Writebol is getting better.

I only have a Belgian source. I haven't found an English source so far.
 
kikie
Two Americans (Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol), whom are infected, got injected with a "secret" serum to battle the ebola virus. It has never been tested on humans before and is still in it's experimental stage. It seems that Brantly is much better after getting the serum. Even, Writebol is getting better.

I only have a Belgian source. I haven't found an English source so far.
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My guess is that it's the blood of survivors, in the hopes of any antibodies.
 
(Maybe) GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY

ABC News@ABC3m
NYC Health Dept.: Sickened patient at NYC hospital "is unlikely to have Ebola," but testing being performed to exclude the disease.
 
Dotini
At some point the Ebola outbreak probably ought, in a perfect world, to be contained. However, it would appear denial and superstition must be educated (or beaten and forced?) out of affected populations in order to effectively accomplish this. In a race between this sort of education and the spread of Ebola, I wonder which outcome a betting man would put his money on? :ill:
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This is why culture can be so crucial to how populations deal with diseases. Some cultures are simply better prepared to deal with a highly deadly disease than others, either through superior knowledge or through customs that are better suited to deal with such things. Like not handwashing bodies of dead people.

Unfortunately, humans tend to be extremely stubborn when it comes to not learning about things they think they already "know". If people "know" that the disease is caused by witchcraft, all the biology and medical science in the world won't save them. Either you save them at gunpoint, which is pretty immoral, or you watch them die of their own ignorance, which is pretty traumatic.

The world would be a much better place if people were just a touch more rational. Here's hoping that people in affected areas come to see that the doctors are there to help, and accept the aid and advice that is offered to them freely.
 
GTPorsche
(Maybe) GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY

ABC News@ABC3m
NYC Health Dept.: Sickened patient at NYC hospital "is unlikely to have Ebola," but testing being performed to exclude the disease.
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Not Ebola. Just some bad Mexican. E'bowla chili colorado.

KSaiyu
Immunology - the future of medicine.
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Indeed. Love, love, love immunology. Fascinating field.
 
Today I've read in the news that people in Liberia drag their dead on the streets to rot because they don't
want to put under quarantine which they see as a ''death trap.''
Wow.

I've also heard rumors about an infected person in Spain. Anyone know anything about this?
 
Carbonox
Why was a person from an infected area allowed to travel to Britain? 👎
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Because Ebola presents with fairly ordinary symptoms - in its earliest stages, it's not unlike a common cold. And she probably came vua a lay-over in an uninfected area.
 

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