Ebola fun

[Dead Man]

I'm surprised nobody is talking about this around here.

Currently being in a state of employment limbo, I find myself driving around or doing other non-work related tasks during normal business hours. As such, I've had a little bit of time to catch up on what's new. Apparently we're all about to die, and nobody bothered to tell me!

Is this being discussed in the media at all? I don't have a television. I get all of my news from general discussion sections on internet forums and 30-day-old articles shared on Facebook.

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health...s-says-n136856


Outbreak, or 12 Monkeys?

[Belmont31R]

Ebola kills so fast that it actually keeps the disease pretty isolated. Viruses like the flu tend to have a longer incubation time and people are sick longer. That means a lot more chances for the disease to spread itself.

[ABNAK]

I was surprised to see that about half survived! I thought it was like 100% fatal. I'll bet if you "survive" your organs are f****d (like kidney and renal failure....wonder what the long-term survival is).



ETA: I remember seeing something on TV a while back with a guy named Ken Alibek, who had worked on the Soviets biological warfare program (or was somehow associated with it). IIRC he said at one time the Russkies were trying to weaponize a hybrid of Ebola and the flu. The significance was the ease of transmission like the flu has but the overhwhelming fatality rate and horror of Ebola.

[Sensei]

Ebola kills so fast that it actually keeps the disease pretty isolated. Viruses like the flu tend to have a longer incubation time and people are sick longer. That means a lot more chances for the disease to spread itself.

Actually, Ebola has a longer incubation period between 2 days and three weeks. Influenza is only 1-4 days (mean of 2). The real reason why you don't see Ebola creeping up on your doorstep is the mode of transmission. Ebola requires person-to-person contact or handling infective animal reservoirs. That means direct contact with blood, secretions, etc. Some cultural norms in Africa aid in the transmission as it is customary for relatives to "handle" the body. Why people would want to dry hump a fly-covered, melting corpse is beyond me; chalk it up to natural selection. Contrast this with influenza transmission which can occur by respiratory droplet which travel a few feet. Thus, the scene in Outbreak where the person sneezes in a theater and infects the whole room is much more applicable to Influenza or better yet, Varicella (a true aerosol disease on particles less than 10 microns). An Ebola sneeze is only dangerous if you catch the snot spray or get a slimy handshake.

[Sensei]

I was surprised to see that about half survived! I thought it was like 100% fatal. I'll bet if you "survive" your organs are f****d (like kidney and renal failure....wonder what the long-term survival is).



ETA: I remember seeing something on TV a while back with a guy named Ken Alibek, who had worked on the Soviets biological warfare program (or was somehow associated with it). IIRC he said at one time the Russkies were trying to weaponize a hybrid of Ebola and the flu. The significance was the ease of transmission like the flu has but the overhwhelming fatality rate and horror of Ebola.

That is correct. The idea was to create a strain of Ebola that could be transmitted by respiratory droplet or aerosol. It was not successful outside of a laboratory environment to the best of our knowledge.

[Dead Man]

I was surprised to see that about half survived! I thought it was like 100% fatal. I'll bet if you "survive" your organs are f****d (like kidney and renal failure....wonder what the long-term survival is).

That's so far- a lot of those will still die.

[Voodoochild]

I lived and worked for 2 + years in Liberia (West Africa). And if this EBola really breaks out in that region they are screwed. There is little to no medical support there. Hospitals are pretty freaking scary. And sanitation is non exsistent.

[BoringGuy45]

I was surprised to see that about half survived! I thought it was like 100% fatal. I'll bet if you "survive" your organs are f****d (like kidney and renal failure....wonder what the long-term survival is).

The worst strain of Ebola, the Zaire strain, is about 80 to 90% fatal in all cases. The Sudan strain is somewhat milder, with a fatality rate of about 55% give or take, though some outbreaks have had upwards of an 70% fatality rate. There's three other strains, Tai Forest, of which there's only been one confirmed case and it was non-fatal, the Uganda strain, which historically has been about 35 to 50% fatal, and the Reston strain, which only affects monkeys. The current outbreak is the Zaire strain, though the this particular one doesn't seem to be quite as virulent as past outbreaks. The fortunate very few who survive Ebola Zaire usually only get it mildly and often have very quick recovery. The survivors who did get it severely do have some long term effects, but from what I've read, major organ failure usually isn't one of them. Ebola is a completely systematic disease and if it has destroyed one major organ, it's probably destroyed them all and the case is fatal.

Another reason why Sub Saharan Africa is not a place I would like to go. In addition to the Ebola viruses, there's the closely related Marburg virus, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo fever, Rift Valley fever, plus bubonic plague and a bunch of other bad bacterial diseases, and of course, AIDS.

[Dead Man]

I lived and worked for 2 + years in Liberia (West Africa). And if this EBola really breaks out in that region they are screwed. There is little to no medical support there. Hospitals are pretty freaking scary. And sanitation is non exsistent.

Seems like an inevitability. There's almost zero education on the matter - half the population probably thinks it's a curse sent by a warlord's witch doctor.

Worst outbreak yet, three countries, 600 confirmed cases and counting, no containment, one strain. Unfortunately for the rest of us, there are airports in West Africa.

[Dead Man]

The worst strain of Ebola, the Zaire strain, is about 80 to 90% fatal in all cases. The Sudan strain is somewhat milder, with a fatality rate of about 55% give or take, though some outbreaks have had upwards of an 70% fatality rate. There's three other strains, Tai Forest, of which there's only been one confirmed case and it was non-fatal, the Uganda strain, which historically has been about 35 to 50% fatal, and the Reston strain, which only affects monkeys. The current outbreak is the Zaire strain, though the this particular one doesn't seem to be quite as virulent as past outbreaks. The fortunate very few who survive Ebola Zaire usually only get it mildly and often have very quick recovery. The survivors who did get it severely do have some long term effects, but from what I've read, major organ failure usually isn't one of them. Ebola is a completely systematic disease and if it has destroyed one major organ, it's probably destroyed them all and the case is fatal.

My limited reading on the matter left me with the impression the dividing line is whether actual hemorrhaging starts in an individual; if your body can fight it off before major tissue damage, you'll probably be OK. But once it crosses that line, there's basically no hope, and the cause of death is multiple major organ failure.