Are you worried about Ebola?

[ms_ann_thrope]

Sometimes my eyes feel like they are going to bleed.

 

[toubab]

Seems like a horrible way to go out.

Worried, no. Somewhat concerned, yes. But there are some things that are definitely worth worrying about, in comparison. There's nothing we can do about them, however, so I see no point in worrying.

 

[badbabysitter]

When you're freezing to death, science is the first log thrown on the fire.

When I'm freezing to death, science is the thermostat I turn up and the insulation in my walls so that I dont have to freeze to death

 

[Que]

"What, me worry?" -Alfred E. Neuman

 

[warrior queen]

No. Ebola require actual touching or contact with bodily fluids, and I am a no-touch kinda person.
I'm more worried about colds, flu, etc.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

How about now?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Hey hey, we're the Monkeys...

 

[toubab]

How about now?

No, because I just don't think Ebola is the one. Sooner or later, the real deal will come along, however. It's almost inevitable.

 

[Hard_Rom]

1st confirmed ebola case in US

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/1st-ebola-case-diagnosed-in-u-s-confirmed-by-cdc-1.2783023


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease
A form of Ebola can be caught by pigs then transmitted to primates without direct contact. As long as the Ebola killing folks in West Africa does not get airborne most of us should be alright. Would hate to be an illiterate slum dweller somewhere. Ebola being just one more reason it sucks to be an illiterate slum dweller.

With every case Ebola adapts slightly to it's host. When contained to a few hundred cases change is slow and probability of going airborne low too. Sooner or later given millions potentially to be infected an airborne version is almost inevitable. Then we are potentially in trouble. The sooner we get a vaccine the better off we all are.

 

[NickiC]

Nope, i think ebola can look after itself.

LOL. She was spotted in a shopping mall in Des Moines.

 

[NickiC]

I do more and more. My relative was going to go overseas to Africa but they so aren't going. My parent said this is how AIDS started. I wasn't alive but I believe it.

 

[toubab]

'Black Death' Was Caused By Ebola Virus - Not Bubonic Plague

http://www.rense.com/general12/bub.htm

"History textbooks have got it wrong about the Black Death, which they say was caused by bubonic plague spread by rats and their fleas. A new study suggests that it was in fact caused by an Ebola-like virus transmitted directly from person to person.

If the findings are confirmed it could mean that a modern form of the Black Death can emerge without requiring the insanitary conditions of the Middle Ages.

Generations of schoolchildren have been told that the plague bacteria transmitted by flea bites caused the great pestilences of medieval Europe which first appeared in the 14th century and killed at least 25 million people more than a quarter of the entire population ñ over a 300-year period. But two infectious disease specialists who have analysed the Black Death have concluded that it bears a closer resemblance to modern outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus.

They also claim that a key mutation in a gene that protects people against infection by the Aids virus is estimated to have appeared at about the same time as the Black Death and served a similar function in that it gave carriers some protection against the virus.

Both observations point to an Ebola-like virus rather than bubonic plague bacteria ñ being responsible, according to professors Christopher Duncan and Susan Scott, of the University of Liverpool.

"Intuitively, the Black Death has all the hallmarks of a viral disease rather than one caused by plague bacteria. The history books are wrong, there's little doubt about that," said Professor Duncan, who studies the way epidemics spread.

The first recorded outbreak of the Black Death occurred at the Sicilian port of Messina in 1347 and was brought in by Genoese galleys returning from the Crimea on the Black Sea.

A year later the disease arrived in the West Country of England and soon spread to towns and cities where it caused fear and panic among a superstitious population who thought the red blotches on the chest of affected individuals were "God's tokens".

Professor Duncan said people soon learnt that the only effective way of dealing with the Black Death was to put affected families and even entire villages into quarantine for 40 days. "A quarantine period was first instituted in the city states of northern Italy in the late 14th century and this was gradually adopted throughout Europe and maintained for the next 300 years until the plague disappeared," professors Duncan and Scott say in their book Biology of Plagues.

A quarantine would not have been effective if the disease was spread by rat fleas," said Professor Duncan. "Rats don't respect quarantines. This disease was transmitted directly from person to person which suggests an infectious virus."

Bubonic plagues spread in a complex fashion because they rely on the interaction of fleas, rats and people. Yet the pattern of spread of the Black Death was relatively simple and predictable, indicating person-to-person transmission.

"Endemic bubonic plague is essentially a rural disease because it is an infection of rodents," the book says. "The Black Death, in contrast, struck indiscriminately in the countryside and towns."

The symptoms of the Black Death point to a haemorrhagic fever caused by an Ebola-like virus. The fever struck suddenly, it caused aching and bleeding from internal organs, as well as red blotches caused by the effusion of blood under the skin ñ classic symptoms of Ebola-like illnesses.

Professor Duncan said there was further evidence to back his theory in the form of a mutation in a key gene ñ called CCR5 ñ involved in conferring some protection against HIV. Scientists have found that this mutation arose only in Europe at about the time of the Black Death and its high frequency suggests it probably offered resistance against the virus.

Professor Duncan said: "Historians jumped on the bubonic plague idea in the early 20th-century when the disease was first described in India but ... it was certainly not the causative agent in the Black Death or in any other of the outbreaks in England.""

Hmmmmm. Something to think about.

 

[coastal-boy]

It isn't a retrovirus like HIV, but like most bad boy viruses its genome is RNA so the mutation rate is high which causes concern. If it was a retrovirus you would have another AIDS epidemic if not worse. The US should not be an issue unless it mutates to a more contagious form.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Wingnut Nation and their Not-Republican auxilliary seem bound and determined to gin up fear over this ebola nontroversy.
:nods:

 

[MichaelinChina]

On a related note though, ... Jimi Hendrix ... was the opening act for The Monkees for part of their '67 or '68 tour.[/QUOTE]

That's surreal. A real guitar player opening for a bunch of guitar playing wannabes.

 

[toubab]

Woman saves three relatives from Ebola

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/25/health/ebola-fatu-family/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

"(CNN) -- It can be exhausting nursing a child through a nasty bout with the flu, so imagine how 22-year-old Fatu Kekula felt nursing her entire family through Ebola.

Her father. Her mother. Her sister. Her cousin. Fatu took care of them all, single-handedly feeding them, cleaning them and giving them medications.

And she did so with remarkable success. Three out of her four patients survived. That's a 25% death rate -- considerably better than the estimated Ebola death rate of 70%.

Fatu stayed healthy, which is noteworthy considering that more than 300 health care workers have become infected with Ebola, and she didn't even have personal protection equipment -- those white space suits and goggles used in Ebola treatment units.

Instead Fatu, who's in her final year of nursing school, invented her own equipment. International aid workers heard about Fatu's "trash bag method" and are now teaching it to other West Africans who can't get into hospitals and don't have protective gear of their own.

Every day, several times a day for about two weeks, Fatu put trash bags over her socks and tied them in a knot over her calves. Then she put on a pair of rubber boots and then another set of trash bags over the boots.

She wrapped her hair in a pair of stockings and over that a trash bag. Next she donned a raincoat and four pairs of gloves on each hand, followed by a mask.

It was an arduous and time-consuming process, but Fatu was religious about it, never cutting corners.

UNICEF Spokeswoman Sarah Crowe said Fatu is amazing."

Amazing indeed. What a woman. Truly someone to admire.

 

[badbabysitter]

still not worried

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.rense.com/general12/bub.htm

"History textbooks have got it wrong about the Black Death, which they say was caused by bubonic plague spread by rats and their fleas. A new study suggests that it was in fact caused by an Ebola-like virus transmitted directly from person to person.

If the findings are confirmed it could mean that a modern form of the Black Death can emerge without requiring the insanitary conditions of the Middle Ages.

Generations of schoolchildren have been told that the plague bacteria transmitted by flea bites caused the great pestilences of medieval Europe which first appeared in the 14th century and killed at least 25 million people more than a quarter of the entire population ñ over a 300-year period. But two infectious disease specialists who have analysed the Black Death have concluded that it bears a closer resemblance to modern outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus.

They also claim that a key mutation in a gene that protects people against infection by the Aids virus is estimated to have appeared at about the same time as the Black Death and served a similar function in that it gave carriers some protection against the virus.

Both observations point to an Ebola-like virus rather than bubonic plague bacteria ñ being responsible, according to professors Christopher Duncan and Susan Scott, of the University of Liverpool.

"Intuitively, the Black Death has all the hallmarks of a viral disease rather than one caused by plague bacteria. The history books are wrong, there's little doubt about that," said Professor Duncan, who studies the way epidemics spread.

The first recorded outbreak of the Black Death occurred at the Sicilian port of Messina in 1347 and was brought in by Genoese galleys returning from the Crimea on the Black Sea.

A year later the disease arrived in the West Country of England and soon spread to towns and cities where it caused fear and panic among a superstitious population who thought the red blotches on the chest of affected individuals were "God's tokens".

Professor Duncan said people soon learnt that the only effective way of dealing with the Black Death was to put affected families and even entire villages into quarantine for 40 days. "A quarantine period was first instituted in the city states of northern Italy in the late 14th century and this was gradually adopted throughout Europe and maintained for the next 300 years until the plague disappeared," professors Duncan and Scott say in their book Biology of Plagues.

A quarantine would not have been effective if the disease was spread by rat fleas," said Professor Duncan. "Rats don't respect quarantines. This disease was transmitted directly from person to person which suggests an infectious virus."

Bubonic plagues spread in a complex fashion because they rely on the interaction of fleas, rats and people. Yet the pattern of spread of the Black Death was relatively simple and predictable, indicating person-to-person transmission.

"Endemic bubonic plague is essentially a rural disease because it is an infection of rodents," the book says. "The Black Death, in contrast, struck indiscriminately in the countryside and towns."

The symptoms of the Black Death point to a haemorrhagic fever caused by an Ebola-like virus. The fever struck suddenly, it caused aching and bleeding from internal organs, as well as red blotches caused by the effusion of blood under the skin ñ classic symptoms of Ebola-like illnesses.

Professor Duncan said there was further evidence to back his theory in the form of a mutation in a key gene ñ called CCR5 ñ involved in conferring some protection against HIV. Scientists have found that this mutation arose only in Europe at about the time of the Black Death and its high frequency suggests it probably offered resistance against the virus.

Professor Duncan said: "Historians jumped on the bubonic plague idea in the early 20th-century when the disease was first described in India but ... it was certainly not the causative agent in the Black Death or in any other of the outbreaks in England.""

Hmmmmm. Something to think about.

OK So what exactly does a Plague shot protect against?

 

[about_average]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease
A form of Ebola can be caught by pigs then transmitted to primates without direct contact.

Actually it was transmitted, according to the footnotes, by direct contact.
Additionally, the people exposed tested positive for antibodies. None have even gotten sick, much less died, in the 12 months following their testing positive.

 

[about_average]

It's interesting that Sarepta Therapeutics has a drug treatment that they were working on for the USAMRIID. It has show survival rates as high as 80% in primate testing and early human testing.
Unfortunately the project was axed in 2012 because of the sequester.
Sarepta has said they have enough on hand for a full course of treatment for about 25 people, and materials on hand to make a further 100 doses.

 

[Lancecastor]

Ebola does provide a great opportunity for Ray Davies and/or Weird Al.

Or The Knack......

 

[toubab]

OK So what exactly does a Plague shot protect against?

Bacteria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_vaccine

 

[Laurel]

You're more likely to be shot to death, but we as a society seem to be fine with every moron carrying a gun - so the screeching about some not-exactly-super-contagious disease seems a bit, I dunno, stupid.

Turn off your fear-mongering TV news for a bit and read some good books. You'll be just as informed - maybe even more so - and feel a whoooole lot better.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You're more likely to be shot to death, but we as a society seem to be fine with every moron carrying a gun - so the screeching about some not-exactly-super-contagious disease seems a bit, I dunno, stupid.

Turn off your fear-mongering TV news for a bit and read some good books. You'll be just as informed - maybe even more so - and feel a whoooole lot better.

As the official spokesman for stupid posters I wanna point out that Obama spent another 1.5 billion on the ObamaCare website since a year ago; he cant keep illegals out, secret service cant keep whackos and armed felons away from Obama, crazy fuggin blacks are cutting heads off people or murdering girls, and your brain is going lalalalalalalalalalalalala.

You seriously believe CDC has a clue?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I love what haystack said about the broken window at the White House: WE CANT SEE IN THE DARKKKKKKKK.

The Democrat Representative who asked the question replied: HOW'S YOUR HEARING IN THE DARK?