Ebola in Europe / US.

[Me4711]

Imo awareness and being well informed goes a long way towards prevention.


When I'm back from Hols , I'm considering a mandatory temperature check before allowing entry to my abode

DONT FORGET Stephanie, Just In-Case keep a Cruafix in a glass box on the wall marked "Break Glass" ...... Back Dracula .. Back, Back I say ....

[justfrank44]

To just quickly snap back to an earlier post re viral mutation -- I think you mentioned how people get a flu jab every season.

The reason people have to get a flu jab every season is because the flu virus is one of those that mutates rapidly.

Last year's vaccine would not be effective against this year's strain.

Some viruses are volatile (like flu/cold viruses) , others are more steady : Hep B for example. Hep A. Chicken pox.

Small pox (before it was eradicated). Rubella , Polio , etc.

Even HIV is a fairly steady virus compared to the flu.

The danger with viruses is that they constantly mutate. Imagine Darwin's Evolution theory on steroids :

With every generation there might be a slight change in the traits of an individual animal/organism , a slight change in

genetic makeup . Some of these changes will be beneficial to that organism and it will thrive / survive and carry on those

new genes , other mutations will be null or detrimental and that organism will be at a disadvantage and may die off.

Now if you look at this on the viral level , you may be talking about a new generation of organisms every single day

(within a single infected person) , or the very least every single time the virus travels from one host to another.

To try to put it simply : patient Zero in the current outbreak was a two year old little kid in Guinea , he became ill with

Ebola and died last year December. (<<< that was ten months ago !).

Ever since that original case , every time this strain of virus infected a new host (a new person becoming ill) , it had a

chance to mutate , and mutate it does.

As a crude analogy , imagine a blind man shooting an AK47 in an enclosed space. Eventually he will hit something , no ?

In the case of Ebola , the fear is that while this virus is 'shooting blindly' in its mutations , sooner or later it will hit the

target and may become truly airborne (like the flu or cold that we are familiar with : aerosolised particles can hang in the

air for an extended period of time , can travel on the slightest draft in a room , can infect someone standing 12-20 feet away).

At the moment Ebola is not as airborne as the flu , but it is airborne enough to infect you if you are in close proximity

of a person who is showing active signs of the illness. : fever , headache , upset stomach , etc.

And those symptoms sound just like an any- Sunday hangover , no ?

Would you go punting ? Would a bloke fresh off a plane go punting ?

Many would of course , and I think that's why awareness and public education and information is so important.

Look at what happens without it !

So long we don't have it in the country we are cool.

Can you predict if/when it will get here ?

Scott Gottlieb, former deputy director of the US Food and Drug Administration, writes in Forbes that it is very unlikely that the Ebola virus would ever mutate into an airborne version.

"It would be unusual for a virus to transform in a way that changes its mode of infection," he writes. "Of the 23 known viruses that cause serious disease in man, none are known to have mutated in ways that changed how they infect humans."

I think we all suffer from the ability to take a little information of the internet and interpret our own way. Not deliberately, even the experts can't agree as to how this will play out. It is probably worse in Africa because of social conditions and local distrust of foreign aid. If and when it spreads here, after a brief panic, it will almost surely be treated and contained. Few things can be guaranteed in life, but stressing too much about something like this will only do you more harm than good.

[Stephanie]

Would it not be easier just to check for vomiting and bloody diarrhea?

Thank you for your contribution . I'm glad you can see the humor in what I've been talking about. ' '


In the current outbreak bloody diarrhoea and/or vomitus is not characteristic .

Many a patients in this current outbreak have died without experiencing either of those symptoms ;

and even if they do get those symptoms , it is well late in the disease.

They would be infectious long before the above symptoms develop.





Actually , now that you mention it , that was one of the early stumbling blocks : initial public education efforts emphasised

bloody diarrhoea and vomiting as signs to look out for in the community , if someone got sick.

Guess what ? Many do not have that.

This current outbreak is caused by a strain closely related to ebola Zaire , but it differs that it kills without necessarily causing

hemorrhaging . If you're waiting for a patient to exhibit hemorrhagic symptoms in order to diagnose them , I'm afraid

-- in this current epidemic atleast -- you'd be missing the proverbial boat.

[Stephanie]

DONT FORGET Stephanie, Just In-Case keep a Cruafix in a glass box on the wall marked "Break Glass" ...... Back Dracula .. Back, Back I say ....

I wear a Crucifix , and got Garlic in my kitchen !

I'm prepared

Are you ?

[Vitruvian]

I wear a Crucifix , and got Garlic in my kitchen !

I'm prepared

Are you ?

Don't forget the hair pin. :-)

[Stephanie]

Scott Gottlieb, former deputy director of the US Food and Drug Administration, writes in Forbes that it is very unlikely that the Ebola virus would ever mutate into an airborne version.

"It would be unusual for a virus to transform in a way that changes its mode of infection," he writes. "Of the 23 known viruses that cause serious disease in man, none are known to have mutated in ways that changed how they infect humans."

I think we all suffer from the ability to take a little information of the internet and interpret our own way. Not deliberately, even the experts can't agree as to how this will play out. It is probably worse in Africa because of social conditions and local distrust of foreign aid. If and when it spreads here, after a brief panic, it will almost surely be treated and contained. Few things can be guaranteed in life, but stressing too much about something like this will only do you more harm than good.

Scott Gottlieb was associated with US Food and Drug Administration for two years , in 2005-2007.

Whatever insight he might have had re ebola at the time , it would've pertained only to previous outbreaks.

Most notably , the most recent up to that point ??? >> https://www.google.ie/search?q=ebola...&client=safari

The current ebola outbreak that is devastating Liberia , Sierra Leone , and on a smaller scale Guinea , has no bearing on a

once upon 'scientist' who was appointed to a US Federal Agency close to a decade ago under questionable circumstances.

Take note , that this very Scott Gotllieb has a very questionable history , is no more than a hack.

In future please check your sources before you quote them x


Further : in the past it was also thought that a pathogen happily existing in a docile host would be very unlikely to jump

species. Then comes BirdFlu , comes SARS , come God knows what.

Gottlieb and his argument is dated and merely a footnote in today's epidemic.

[Meursault]

Sure it's a perfect weapon for wiping out large number of people , for paralysing a community / society !

Even to destroy a country's economy ?


Already Spain's hotel and tourist industry taking a hit , based on this incident.

If there was Ebola in a country , would you take your holiday there ?

.

did you know that the castor oil plant grows in east africa and india and along the Mediterranean......maybe ive watched too much breaking bad

[Stephanie]

The bird flu scare in hong kong a few years ago springs to mind, There was a lot of panic and a lot of predictions about large numbers of expected deaths, Hong kong was nearly bankrupted by it , but it just all sort of faded away. I think part of the reason for this was the health care and precautions available, as opposed to what is available in africa, which is most likely why we are seeing so many deaths there.

And so the very first patient diagnosed on US soil , has died today.

Despite all the most-up-to-date and bestest of care , this patient died merely a week after he was hospitalised.


How does that strike you ?

Get a headache today , then 50-50 {70 for it , 30 you don't ?} you die in a week.







Btw , this only to make you think. Not to panic ; Though a healthy dose of alarm might be in order xx

Especially if you're a frequent air traveler xx

[Meursault]

the world is pretty busy at the moment. Ukraine, palistine, isis, hong kong, ebola.........ebola is the most dangerous id say

[Vitruvian]

It is odd, with so many people dieing, that it is often the pain of those left behind, that touches you.
Today a story of an aid worker, who for the last 3 months has been unable to even hug his own children for fear of contamination, kinda brings it home!!