Ebola epidemic

[j_dunlavy]

They will carry antibodies.
I have not seen studies showing whether and what percent of survivors become carriers of the actual virus.

What she said.

My biggest concern related to this outbreak over other out breaks is the length of time the outbreak is lasting. Other outbreaks burned themselves out pretty fast. This one is dragging on for so long that the chances of viral mutation in humans could be greater. If this virus were to mutate the outcome could be catastrophic. If it goes that direction though, I am willing to bet no government efforts would be able to hide it because of the scale on which it would occur, despite anyone's feelings about government coverups.

Rich, I'm with you on the germaphobe thing but I found that regular hand washing and not touching my face have worked the best. I am of the school of thought that antibacterial sanitizers, wipes, etc contribute to resistant bacteria.
Just by not touching my face and washing my hands a lot, has kept me from getting a cold or flu for the past few years... and I work the retail front for my company on the weekend.

 

[Lucille]

regular hand washing and not touching my face have worked the best.

That is very good advice.

However

Having been a school nurse for decades, one can talk oneself blue in the face and little kids still wipe their runny noses with the backs of their hands instead of a Kleenex, eat off other kids trays in the cafeteria, play in the bathroom (especially the boys) without washing their hands, and give each other smoochy gooey hugs.

 

[j_dunlavy]

play in the bathroom (especially the boys) without washing their hands

lol, the "boys are gross" thing does have some merit...

kids make great carriers, don't they... i feel like my snakes are cleaner than some kids.
I just assume all public surfaces are petri dishes, usually because kids touch them. I just wash up whenever I go to; touch food, need to wipe my eye or get home, all after being in public. My wife opens the door with her butt or a kleenex to avoid the filthiness of the door handle that everyone else puts their gross hands on.

but back to the subject at hand:
I also think humans will be wiped out by influenza, not ebola. Ebola just has such frightening symptoms that people are really scared of it. It's partly the wow factor. Stuff like the Spanish Influenza scare me more because they are airborne and can have very high mortality rates.

 

[WebSlave]

Yeah man... You have to wonder about the geniuses that design bathroom doors such that while you are inside the bathroom you have to grab a handle in order to pull the door open to exit. At least someone has the brainpower to put a trashcan close to that door (in some cases) so you can cover your hand with a paper towel while grabbing that handle. I've seen far, FAR too many people coming out of the stalls who will not wash their hands and go right to the door to exit.

As for kids, well, Connie and I pretty much avoid them like, well, the plague.

Besides washing our hands frequently AND using antibacterial hand wipes, we also take dietary supplements to boost the immune system. A boosted immune system is probably one of your strongest defenses against pathogens that get through all your other defenses.

Oh, and about ebola, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be anywhere near someone infected that is sneezing or coughing. The media is playing down the transmission of the virus claiming it takes direct contact with bodily fluids to be contagious. Like you need to take a bath in their blood or something. Virus particles are so small that their can be zillions of them emitted in a single sneeze. Just out of curiosity, how many virus particles does it take entering your body before YOU become infected?

You know, it might be a real good idea to stock up on some "hurricane provisions" in case it becomes a real good idea to stay in the house and not venture out for a few weeks. I don't trust the government controlled media one bit to let me know how bad things really are before they are WAY beyond being B-A-D.

BTW, did anyone read about a meeting between Obama and a bunch of leaders from Africa? I'll be curious to see if Obama begs off of this meeting and sends Biden in his place......

 

[Lucille]

The media is playing down the transmission of the virus claiming it takes direct contact with bodily fluids to be contagious.

I'm not believing that. The medical personnel who have lost their lives were perfectly aware of how serious this disease is, and perfectly aware of blood/body fluid precautions.
The vast majority of medical personnel survived many years in the medical field taking care of HepB and HIV patients, successfully using standard bloodborne pathogen precautions. And those precautions did not work when they were treating Ebola patients.

I can well understand why even in foreign countries when someone knocks on your door and smiles and says 'Hi, we're from the government, and we're here to help you', the correct response is to slam the front door in their faces, run out the back door, and disappear.

 

[WebSlave]

I'm not believing that. The medical personnel who have lost their lives were perfectly aware of how serious this disease is, and perfectly aware of blood/body fluid precautions.
The vast majority of medical personnel survived many years in the medical field taking care of HepB and HIV patients, successfully using standard bloodborne pathogen precautions. And those precautions did not work when they were treating Ebola patients.

Yeah, that struck me as very strange as well. It's not like the medical personnel didn't understand the risks and took every precaution they felt was needed to protect themselves. Maybe this strain of ebola is a new animal they weren't prepared to deal with. Been reading some rumors that at ground zero there is a lab experimenting with ebola. Also rumors of scientists being spotted more interested in collecting samples than helping anyone. Maybe all just "doom porn" talk, of course, but who knows?

Whenever I've read discussions about mutating pathogens (both natural and man made) and how thin the line is between just another flu season and extinction, the phrase often gets expressed that "humanity will not go out with a bang, but with a whimper."

It scares the living hell out of me to think of scientists (who cannot seem to get even a three day weather forecast correct, and have already created enormous blunders in the environment) playing around with genetic manipulation with no more of a thought than "let's see what happens...." So you have to wonder whether somewhere, SOMEONE has already opened up Pandora's Box and can't shut it now.

 

[j_dunlavy]

I'm not believing that. The medical personnel who have lost their lives were perfectly aware of how serious this disease is, and perfectly aware of blood/body fluid precautions.
The vast majority of medical personnel survived many years in the medical field taking care of HepB and HIV patients, successfully using standard bloodborne pathogen precautions. And those precautions did not work when they were treating Ebola patients.

I suspect that part of it is how long the virus can survive outside the host; 2 days if I am not mistaken. Coupled with the fact that an ebola patient is oozing mass amounts of virus out of every pore and leaking from every orifice... I'm sure it gets tracked around very quickly. Also, have you ever seen someone sneeze from a distance and not cover their mouth? pretty gross right. In the hot zone it would be deadly mist that lands on all nearby surfaces, gets inhaled, etc. You don't have these sorts of problems with HIV or Hepatitis (maybe some with Hepatitis).
Think of it this way; if you have ever gotten ink (or something of the sort) on you without realizing it; how long before it was turning up all over the place, like say, on your face. Then you are thinking "where the heck did all this ink come from?" It is the same thing, but with deadly ebola ink.

 

[hhmoore]

I've seen at least one article suggesting that they were brought back more for research than management, since the cry for a vaccine is growing louder and gaining strength.

(Re: the mosquito comment I saw earlier today - I'm pretty sure Ebola is a non-vector borne disease)

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I'm sure they got the best working on this.

Scientist Working on Gov’t Ebola Drug Joked about Culling Population with GMO Virus
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternativ...ulling-population-with-gmo-virus-3006738.html

Media coverage is now focusing on the experimental Ebola treatments being given to two American Ebola patients who contracted it while caring for victims in Africa — the site of the world’s deadliest outbreak.

But that Ebola treatment was developed by a leading bioengineering scientist from the University of Arizona who was caught on camera “joking” about wiping out humanity. Dr. Charles Arntzen suggested the use of a “better” genetically engineered virus during a post-lecture Q&A focused on over-population issues, citing the 2011 Hollywood film ‘Contagion.’

As Truthstream Media previously reported, on February 2, 2012, Dr. Charles Arntzen, head of The Biodesign Institute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, responded to a question pertaining to whether feeding some eight billion people in the world was worth it, or whether population reduction should be pursued.

In response, Dr. Arntzen quipped:

“Has anybody seen ‘Contagion’? That’s the answer! Go out and use genetic engineering to create a better virus… 25 percent of the population is supposed to go in Contagion.”

While this comment was made prior to the current Ebola outbreak fears, it is unsettling given the fact that Dr. Arntzen was already working a biotech vaccine for Ebola.

Among the many high level projects Dr. Arntzen has worked on for DARPA, as well as private biotech industry include an edible vaccine with genetically engineered medicine/vitamins grown into foods like bananas and even work on bioterrorism vaccine antigens for U.S. Biowarfare Defense alongside Mitch Hein, the founder of Epicyte – the biotech firm that created spermicidal anti-bodies grown in corn to slow human reproduction.

A great deal of related research into other bioweapon treatments is directly based upon Dr. Charles Arntzen’s pioneering research.

Among these experimental treatments are a storable genetically engineered Anthrax vaccine for use during a biological attack, as well as research into biopharmaceutical treatments for the plague, cholera and other infectious diseases that could create a pandemic.

In light of this background, statements like the one made by Arntzen hardly convey trust in a process that is already less than transparent and prone to speculation, various states of unrest and panic on the part of the public. The Daily Mail reported that much of the local population in Sierra Leone have been distrustful of medical workers there and blamed the deaths on a ‘government conspiracy’.

Someone casually remarking on culling some 25% of the population with a bioweapon is THE LAST PERSON you’d want to trust with creating an already dangerous countermeasure to Ebola, which carries a death rate as high as 90%.

And yet, that is exactly who has been leading this biowarfare research for decades now…

 

[sschind]

According to "the hot zone" the Ebola virus strain that showed up in Reston Virginia (yes we had an ebola outbreak in the US) was one that could be transmitted through the air but it was a non-lethal strain to humans. Supposedly none of the lethal strains were transmittable that way. That does not mean one couldn't have mutated.

 

[sschind]

Yeah man... You have to wonder about the geniuses that design bathroom doors such that while you are inside the bathroom you have to grab a handle in order to pull the door open to exit. At least someone has the brainpower to put a trashcan close to that door (in some cases) so you can cover your hand with a paper towel while grabbing that handle. I've seen far, FAR too many people coming out of the stalls who will not wash their hands and go right to the door to exit.

As for kids, well, Connie and I pretty much avoid them like, well, the plague.

Besides washing our hands frequently AND using antibacterial hand wipes, we also take dietary supplements to boost the immune system. A boosted immune system is probably one of your strongest defenses against pathogens that get through all your other defenses.

Oh, and about ebola, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be anywhere near someone infected that is sneezing or coughing. The media is playing down the transmission of the virus claiming it takes direct contact with bodily fluids to be contagious. Like you need to take a bath in their blood or something. Virus particles are so small that their can be zillions of them emitted in a single sneeze. Just out of curiosity, how many virus particles does it take entering your body before YOU become infected?

You know, it might be a real good idea to stock up on some "hurricane provisions" in case it becomes a real good idea to stay in the house and not venture out for a few weeks. I don't trust the government controlled media one bit to let me know how bad things really are before they are WAY beyond being B-A-D.

BTW, did anyone read about a meeting between Obama and a bunch of leaders from Africa? I'll be curious to see if Obama begs off of this meeting and sends Biden in his place......

I'm with you on the bathroom door thing but I just laugh at those people who wipe down the carts at the grocery stores with the antibacterial wipes. I saw on lady who looked like she was getting ready to perform brain surgery and the patient was going to be in the cart. She wiped that baby down cleaner than a 57 Chevy at a Barret Jackson auction.

 

[sschind]

I've seen at least one article suggesting that they were brought back more for research than management, since the cry for a vaccine is growing louder and gaining strength.

(Re: the mosquito comment I saw earlier today - I'm pretty sure Ebola is a non-vector borne disease)

I guess that makes some sense and I think you are right about the mosquito thing.

 

[WebSlave]

Hmm, so if a disease organism is transmitted through bodily fluids, and a mosquito bites someone with ebola, what is in that mosquito? If it bites something else, why couldn't a virus be passed onto the second host? if a needle stuck into a person suffering from ebola can pass the virus onto someone else that needle is later applied to, why would this mechanism fail in the case of the "needle" of a mosquito?

 

[WebSlave]

CDC CONCERNED ABOUT AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION OF EBOLA VIRUS

by PAUL JOSEPH WATSON | AUGUST 4, 2014

Despite repeated assurances that the Ebola virus cannot be transmitted via airborne particles, the CDC is concerned about that very outcome and has directed airline staff to take steps to prevent the spread of “infectious material through the air.”

While Ebola is highly contagious, the risk of a full blown pandemic has been downplayed by health authorities because, according to our current understanding of the virus, Ebola, “is not airborne and is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, including sweat and blood.”

However, with concerns rising that the current strain of the virus, which is the worst in history and has killed 887 people, could in fact be airborne, the Centers For Disease Control has implemented steps to prevent its spread via international air travel.

A CDC advisory entitled Interim Guidance about Ebola Virus Infection for Airline Flight Crews, Cleaning Personnel, and Cargo Personnel reveals that the federal agency is concerned about airborne contamination.

The advisory urges airline staff to provide surgical masks to potential Ebola victims in order “to reduce the number of droplets expelled into the air by talking, sneezing, or coughing.” (emphasis mine).

The CDC is also directing airline cleaning personnel to, “not use compressed air, which might spread infectious material through the air.” (emphasis mine).

The CDC’s concern about the Ebola virus being spread via the air is understandable in light of a 2012 experiment conducted by Canadian scientists which proved that, “the ebola virus could be transmitted by air between species.”

Researchers demonstrated that the virus could be transmitted from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact by placing the two animals in pens separated only by a wire barrier. After eight days, some of the monkeys were found to have symptoms of Ebola likely as a result of “inhaling large aerosol droplets produced from the respiratory tracts of the pigs.”

The results of the study led scientists to conclude that, “limited airborne transmission might be contributing to the spread of the disease in some parts of Africa,” although they cautioned against making comparisons to the airborne nature of the influenza virus.

In addition, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s official website states under a section entitled “mode of transmission,” that “airborne spread among humans is strongly suspected, although it has not yet been conclusively demonstrated.”

The potential for a new strain of the Ebola virus to have achieved airborne transmission only serves to cast further doubt on the logic of the United States choosing to import two Ebola sufferers into the country.

As we reported last week, President Barack Obama signed an amendment to executive order which allows health authorities to detain Americans who merely show signs of respiratory illness.

The CDC has also outlined measures for dealing with an outbreak of a communicable disease which allow for the quarantine of “well persons” who “do not show symptoms” of the disease.

Source: http://www.infowars.com/cdc-concerned-about-airborne-transmission-of-ebola-virus/

Interesting about that executive order, eh?

 

[Helenthereef]

Hmm, so if a disease organism is transmitted through bodily fluids, and a mosquito bites someone with ebola, what is in that mosquito? If it bites something else, why couldn't a virus be passed onto the second host? if a needle stuck into a person suffering from ebola can pass the virus onto someone else that needle is later applied to, why would this mechanism fail in the case of the "needle" of a mosquito?

Only specifically adapted things (such as the Malaria parasite or the Dengue fever virus) can live in mosquitoes (and then only specific species of mosquito) - so far there does not seem to be any evidence that Ebola is one of them, so it might get into the mosquito but should not live long enough (or cannot be replicated successfully by the mosquito's cells) to be transmitted.

As far as I can see transmission is by bodily fluids (including sweat) into open wounds (including scratches), so it is more infectious than HIV, but less so than Measles or 'Flu.

Normal handwashing and not shaking hands will go a long way to reducing transmission. Doctors working in the villages are maintaining a 2 m (6 foot) personal space between themselves and potentially infected individuals.

I also saw an interesting interview today that says while the infectious stage is 21 days, people at the start of the disease, with few symptoms, are much less infectious than those at the end with severe symptoms, or even dead bodies, so the most highly infectious victims should be either very obviously sick (or dead) and thereby fairly simply to identify and avoid in a Westernised nation.

 

[WebSlave]

Experts say transmission of Ebola virus by air possible

By SOLA OGUNDIPE on August 05, 2014

THE Ebola Virus is essentially transmitted from human-to-human through direct contact with infected patients, or through contact with body fluids of a victim. However, scientists are not ruling out the possibility of transmission by air through aerosolised particles.

Previously, Canadian scientists have shown that the deadliest form of the Ebola virus (the Zaire Ebola) could be transmitted by air between species. Although no human over-ther-air transmission of the lethal viral disorder has been recorded, but the Patrick Sawyer incidence in Lagos, Nigeria, has reopened worries over the implications of the possibility of its transmission in an enclosed environment such as an aircraft cabin.

Transmissible from pigs to monkeys by air Studies show that the Ebola virus is transmissible to monkeys from infected pigs without them coming into direct contact. The Ebola virus survives for days outside infected hosts and can “ride” on aerosolised droplets to spread to potential victims.

In a demonstration of the infectious dose of the Ebola virus, the Public Health Agency of Canada says 1 – 10 aerosolised organisms are sufficient to cause infection in humans.

In demonstrating the transmission from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact between them, the scientists housed the pigs carrying the virus in pens with the monkeys in close proximity but separated by a wire barrier. After eight days, some of the macaques (monkeys) were showing clinical signs typical of ebola and were euthanised.

According to the Canadian Public Health Agency: “The virus can survive in liquid or dried material for a number of days. Infectivity is found to be stable at room temperature or at 4 degrees celsius for several days, and indefinitely stable at -70 degrees celsius . Infectivity can be preserved by lyophilisation.

Hence, it is implied that Ebola viruses can survive for several days on common objects such as door knobs or household surfaces. If an infected Ebola victim runs around touching such common objects after cleaning blood or mucous from his nose, another innocent victim can easily infect himself by touching the same objects and then eating some food that places the virus in his mouth.

Level 4 biohazard
Ebola, considered a level-4 biohazard, is very infectious, requiring special protective biohazard suits, containment Level 4 facilities, equipment, and operational practices for work involving infectious or potentially infectious materials, animals, and cultures. To date, according to the World Health Organisation, the Ebola virus has caused 1,323 cases of the disease and 729 deaths–a mortality rate of 55%

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/experts-say-transmission-ebola-virus-air-possible/

 

[WebSlave]

Only specifically adapted things (such as the Malaria parasite or the Dengue fever virus) can live in other animals - so far there does not seem to be any evidence that Ebola is one of them, so it might get into the mosquito but should not live long enough to be transmitted.

As far as I can see transmission is by bodily fluids (including sweat) into open wounds (including scratches), so it is more infectious than HIV, but less so than Measles or 'Flu.

Normal handwashing and not shaking hands will go a long way to reducing transmission. Doctors working in the villages are maintaining a 2 m (6 foot) personal space between themselves and potentially infected individuals.

I also saw an interesting interview today that says while the infectious stage is 21 days, people at the start of the disease, with few symptoms, are much less infectious than those at the end with severe symptoms, or even dead bodies, so the most highly infectious victims should be either very obviously sick (or dead) and thereby fairly simply to identify and avoid in a Westernised nation.

Oh, I don't think the virus would live forever in a mosquito and the mosquito therefore become a long term infectious host. But once a mosquito bites an infected person or animal, how long is "long enough" for infection to occur in the second host if bitten by that same mosquito?

Secondly would flies landing in infected blood and then lighting on another person's skin be a risk? I haven't read anything that indicated infection directly through absorption through the skin without an open wound involved.

The more I read about ebola it seems that little is really KNOWN about it. With good reason, I expect. Would take a special kind of person to knowingly put themselves at risk by getting up close and personal with this very hot organism and investigating it in it's natural environment in the field. Even in a controlled lab environment, heck, I'd be scared silly around it. Yeah, I know we all have to die sometime, but this seems like a particularly gruesome way to go.

Oh yeah, in the previous post I made, it made mention of only 1 to 10 virus particles being necessary for infection.

 

[Helenthereef]

The more I read about ebola it seems that little is really KNOWN about it. With good reason, I expect.

I think that right there is the major statement. As long as it was a disease that flared up once every few years and burned itself out in remote African villages there was comparatively little reason to put a lot of resources into studying it.

This time, as the outbreak is larger and has traveled, Western nations are sitting up and paying a lot more attention. The interview I saw (Doctors without Borders) suggested that a vaccine (not a cure) could be ready by next year if resources are provided for development.

 

[WebSlave]

From the World Health Organization page entitled International travel and health

Haemorrhagic fevers

Haemorrhagic fevers are viral infections; important examples are Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fevers, Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Rift Valley fever (RVF), Lassa fever, Hantavirus diseases, dengue and yellow fever.

Hantavirus diseases, dengue and yellow fever are described separately.

Cause
Viruses belonging to several families. Ebola and Marburg belong to the Filoviridae family; hantaviruses, CCHF and RVF belong to the Bunyaviridae family; Lassa fever virus belongs to the Arenaviridae family; and dengue and yellow fever belong to the Flaviviridae family.

Transmission
Viruses that cause haemorrhagic fevers are transmitted by mosquitoes (dengue, yellow fever, RVF), ticks (CCHF), rodents (Hantavirus, Lassa) or bats (Ebola, Marburg). For Ebola and Marburg viruses, humans have been infected from contact with tissues of diseased non-human primates (monkeys and apes) and other mammals, but most human infections have resulted from direct contact with the body fluids or secretions of infected patients. Humans who develop CCHF usually become infected from a tick bite but can also acquire the virus from direct contact with blood or other infected issues from livestock or from infected patients. RVF can be acquired either by mosquito bite or by direct contact with blood or tissues of infected animals (mainly sheep), including consumption of unpasteurized milk. Lassa fever virus is carried by rodents and transmitted by excreta, either as aerosols or by direct contact. Some viral haemorrhagic fevers have been amplified in hospitals by nosocomial transmission resulting from unsafe procedures, use of contaminated medical devices (including needles and syringes) and unprotected exposure to contaminated body fluids.

Nature of the disease
The haemorrhagic fevers are severe acute viral infections, usually with sudden onset of fever, malaise, headache and myalgia followed by pharyngitis, vomiting, diarrhoea, skin rash and haemorrhagic manifestations. The outcome is fatal in a high proportion of cases (more than 50%).

Geographical distribution
Diseases in this group occur widely in tropical and subtropical regions. Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fevers and Lassa fever occur in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. CCHF occurs in the steppe regions of central Asia and in central Europe, as well as in tropical and southern Africa. RVF occurs in Africa and has recently spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. (Maps can be found on WHO website.)

Risk for travellers
Very low for most travellers. However, travellers visiting rural or forest areas in countries or areas at risk may be exposed to infection.

Prophylaxis
None (except for yellow fever).

Precautions
Avoid exposure to mosquitoes and ticks and contact with rodents, non-human primates or bats. Avoid unpasteurized milk.

Source: http://www.who.int/ith/diseases/haemorrhagicfevers/en/

OK, I think I need to stop reading now............

 

[Helenthereef]

OK, I think I need to stop reading now............

Seriously - sometime less is more! Some very interesting info there though.

If you really want to freak yourself out, research the Chikungunya virus - similar to, but worse than Dengue, and hosted by the same mosquitoes, it is spreading through the Caribbean and has recently been found in American Samoa ....



Key facts

Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
The disease shares some clinical signs with dengue, and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.
There is no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms.
The proximity of mosquito breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya.
Since 2004, chikungunya fever has reached epidemic proportions, with considerable morbidity and suffering.
The disease occurs in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In recent decades mosquito vectors of chikungunya have spread to Europe and the Americas. In 2007, disease transmission was reported for the first time in a localized outbreak in north-eastern Italy.