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...Sure, they cause scary disease/death in a few humans before health officials realize that Ebola is afoot, but most ebolavirus outbreaks never make it past the immediate area they began.
..... this is a virus that has burned itself out within a matter of weeks every time it has emerged. It is too deadly too quickly in humans to keep up the transmission cycle long-term. Make no mistake: Ebola is no Herpes...or HIV…or influenza…or norovirus.
Five more Ebola cases, 3 more dead in Guinea
Guinea's health ministry yesterday reported five more clinically compatible Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases, along with three more deaths that are linked to the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa said today in a statement.
Also, the number of lab-confirmed cases climbed by 11, to 35, according to the WHO, which has characterized the outbreak as a quickly evolving situation, with the number of case confirmations and illnesses likely to change. Among the lab-confirmed cases, 11 are from Conakry, Guinea's capital, and 14 involved healthcare workers.
The 5 new illnesses in Guinea push the country's overall total to 127, and the 3 additional deaths lift the fatality count to 83. The case fatality rate is currently 65%. The WHO said healthcare workers account for eight of the deaths.
An outbreak of Ebola that has killed at least 85 people in West Africa is drawing aid from U.S. disease fighters who will help track the deadly path of a virus with no cure that is fatal in about 90 percent of cases.
There have been 136 cases in Guinea and Liberia, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Guinea miners in lockdown after Ebola deaths
Foreign firms in mineral-rich West African nation halt operations and pull out staff as death toll from virus hits 83.
Five new suspected infections were reported in the last 24 hours, the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) said, bringing the total to 127.
…Suspected cases of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases have also been reported in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.
…The British Foreign Office said on its website on Wednesday there were reports of suspected cases in Gambia.
But Gambia's director of health, promotion and education, Momadou Njai, denied there were any such infections, saying one elderly man had been tested and cleared.
Race to contain 400 Ebola carriers
DOCTORS and heath officials are racing to find almost 400 people who could be spreading one of the world's deadliest contagious diseases as the number of confirmed cases across three countries in West Africa rose to 127 yesterday.
At least 83 people have died from Ebola in the latest outbreak. There is no known cure for the disease, which is spread through bodily fluids, causes massive internal bleeding and has a death rate of up to 90 per cent.
Miners in lock-down in Guinea as Ebola death toll hits 84
Liberia reports first Ebola case
Liberia said Thursday it was dealing with its first suspected Ebola case, thought to be unconnected to the epidemic raging in Guinea and to have originated separately within its borders.
He was rushed to the hospital and died 30 minutes later. He never had any interaction with someone suspected to be a carrier of the virus and he has never gone to Guinea. This an a isolated case.
If confirmed, the case in the eastern town of Tapeta would mark a worrying development in the fight against Ebola, as cases so far have been attributed to people returning with the infection from neighbouring Guinea, where 84 people have died.
"We have a case in Tapeta where a hunter who has not had any contact with anyone coming from Guinea got sick," chief medical officer Bernice Dahn said.
"He was rushed to the hospital and died 30 minutes later. He never had any interaction with someone suspected to be a carrier of the virus and he has never gone to Guinea. This an a isolated case."
….seven new patients brought the total suspected Ebola cases in Liberia to 14.
….Six people have died, she said, since Liberia reported its first cases of haemorrhagic fever last month, raising the previous toll by two.
Ebola Economics: Vacations, Vaccines And Very Expensive Monkeys
….beyond immediate expenses, the Ebola virus can also have lasting economic effects on tourism, trade and medical research.
There is still no known cure or vaccine for the Ebola, and the virus’s relative rarity means few ventures are working to find them. Experts say progress will be slow, since Ebola simply isn’t a priority for big pharmaceutical companies.
….But on March 5, Canadian firm Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. unveiled a project with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which agreed to a fast-track grant to develop TKM-Ebola, an anti-Ebola viral therapeutic, according to a company press release. It would augment what the Canadian company had already put into the project as part of a $140 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense starting in 2010.
….fears of the disease have affected more than a few tropical vacations.
In 1990 two Japanese international airlines stopped importing certain species of monkeys, which were known to carry the disease, to protect the country from possible exposure. Korean Airlines later followed suit.
This caused the costs of medical research to skyrocket, as the price of monkeys jumped from $1,500 to more than $4,000 within just six years, according to a case study published soon after.
“The Ebola virus and the decision not to import the rhesus, cynomolgus and African green monkeys into Japan not only directly affects trade….
….“It has been speculated that medical advances are not being made because there are no monkeys to experiment on,” the report added.
….leading health officials and experts say that there is very little chance that the Ebola outbreak will spread much beyond Guinea, as the nature of the disease and the efficacy of efforts to stop its spread will likely cause it to peter out fairly quickly, much as other recent Ebola outbreaks have.
We are not all going to die, so stop with all the doom porn.
You don't need to modify or evolve Ebola as an airborne. All you need is a person with a highly contagious flu and it can spread on the droplets of saliva as they cough in peoples faces, and touch things after wiping the drool from their mouths or their noses. Most flues come with fevers so sweating and touching is another problem. The Ebola virus would simply ride the bus from host to host killing all along the way.
soficrow
Your perceptions need a serious overhaul
soficrow
and you need to stop letting your fears govern your thinking processes.
Im likely one of the very few here that is qualified to have a educated opinion on the matter.
Unless there is a Cat 4 microbiologist on here?
soficrow
So many claim expertise, so few reveal their true identities and post their actual credentials.
How bad is the outbreak?
The Medical NGO Doctors Without Borders is calling the Guinea outbreak an “epidemic of a magnitude never before seen,” but there have been far higher death tolls in the past: a 2001 outbreak in DRC killed 187; a year before that 224 died in Uganda. What makes this particular outbreak so serious is its geographic spread. Not only is it the first time that Guinea has seen Ebola, but cases have been found across the country in areas hundreds of miles apart, instead of concentrated in one isolated area. This complicates quarantine practices, and makes the job of health workers responding to the outbreak even more difficult.
Is there a cure or a vaccine?
Not yet, but we are getting close. One potentially promising treatment in development in Canada was fast-tracked by the U.S. government earlier this month, but it will take months if not years for a full rollout. Because Ebola is so rare, and usually only infects small populations in remote corners of Africa, investment into finding a cure or a vaccine has been limited. That may change. Ebola is on the U.S. list of potential bioterror agents because humans have no natural immunity. As a consequence, the U.S. has started funding vaccine research. In the meantime, the only thing that can be done for infected patients is to treat symptoms and prevent secondary infections through the use of antibiotics, pain medication, anti-clotting drugs and IV hydration. That, and stopping the disease’s spread in the first place.
The virus is not airborne, but is contracted by a person coming in close contact with someone who has been infected. As soon as a person is infected, they become sick almost immediately. Initial symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and body aches; some bleed through the eyes, ears or nose.
Minister of Information Confirms No Outbreak Of Ebola Virus In Nigeria
Following the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Guinea and some other West African countries, the Minister for Information Labaran Maku has affirmed that the disease is not in Nigeria.
….“Citizens are reassured that there is no Ebola fever in the country and all the checks so far undertaken declare clearly that we don’t have it. Yes, there are some cases in two or three West African countries but the ministry has assured that should there be anything like that within our boundary it will be quickly tackled,” he said.
….
Liberia finds Ebola case unrelated to Guinea
….involves hunter who has not had contact with anyone in Guinea.
soficrow
The Australian reports that doctors and heath officials are racing to find almost 400 people who could be spreading the Ebola virus.