Ebola Airborne? Spreads From Pigs to Monkeys Without Contact

Just found this about Ebola abc13.com...

May as well leave the link here rather than start a new thread.

Second news headline I have seem about Ebola today.

a reply to: soficrow

I believe that all hemoraggic fevers are lethal to 99% of the primates. So if it caused the macaques to die, it is not surprising on that. Nor should it be surprising that the strain that they were working with is air born. It has been known for a while, as it has been seen in the labs, where one animal gets sick with ebola and the rest quickly die after that.

a reply to: sdcigarpig

The Ebola now circulating in West Africa is a new clade - and the fatality rate is down to about 60%. That's a big drop in terms of virus evolution and as you may know, lower fatality rates are linked to greater ability to spread.

originally posted by: HumansEh
This was on the BBC website half an hour ago.

www.bbc.com...

People should take note.
Another Horseman of the apocalypse mounts his steed.

Nigeria says it has put all entries into the country on red alert after confirming the death of a Liberian man who was carrying the Ebola virus.

The man died after arriving at Lagos airport on Tuesday, in the first Ebola case in Africa's most populous country.

Surveillance has been stepped up at all "airports, seaports and land borders", says Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.

Since February, more than 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa -the world's deadliest outbreak to date.

This is probably where it will come from to the states. Tons of oil workers are passing through Nigeria. We have quite a few friends that work over there. They do work offshore but they have to get into the country first and they come home through the airports.

a reply to: soficrow
The strain of Ebola that is currently circulating is Ebola Zaire. It belongs to a family called the Filovirus. The first recorded outbreak was called Marburg, back in 1967. Then it came out with Ebola Zaire, followed by Ebola Sudan, then Ebola Reston, then Ebola Cote d’Ivorie, then Ebola Bundibugyo.

Care to guess which one has so far been nonlethal to the human race? Ebola Reston.

a reply to: sdcigarpig

Erm. Filoviruses have been around for more than 40 million years, and some are integrated into the human genome.

Unexpected Inheritance: Multiple Integrations of Ancient Bornavirus and Ebolavirus/Marburgvirus Sequences in Vertebrate Genomes

….In 19 of the tested vertebrate species, we discovered as many as 80 high-confidence examples of genomic DNA sequences that appear to be derived, as long ago as 40 million years, from ancestral members of 4 currently circulating virus families with single strand RNA genomes. Surprisingly, almost all of the sequences are related to only two families in the Order Mononegavirales: the Bornaviruses and the Filoviruses, which cause lethal neurological disease and hemorrhagic fevers, respectively. ….The conservation of relatively long open reading frames for several of the endogenous sequences, the virus-like protein regions represented, and a potential correlation between their presence and a species' resistance to the diseases caused by these pathogens, are consistent with the notion that their products provide some important biological advantage to the species. ….the examples described here should be considered a low estimate of the number of such integration events that have persisted over evolutionary time scales. Clearly, the sources of genetic information in vertebrate genomes are much more diverse than previously suspected.

…..a separately derived primate lineage (comprising marmosets, macaques, chimps, and humans) contains endogenous BDV gene N-related sequences integrated into seven different places in the genomes. …..In the primate line these sites first appear in the present day marmosets and have been retained over forty million years from a common ancestor of marmosets and humans (Figure 2). ……several integrations show signs of strong positive selection, namely those related to the BDV N gene in humans, microbats, rodents, and other animals, and both the EBOV/MARV NP and VP35 gene-related integrations in bats and tarsier. Some integration events, including the BDV N-like sequences in humans (e.g. hsEBLN-1) and the EBOV VP35-like sequences in microbats (mlEEL35) have maintained nearly full-length open reading frames (Table 2). The probability of having no stop codon in the longest of these, the BDV gene N-like integration in humans, is one in eight hundred, suggesting that at some time, past or present, there was strong selective pressure to keep and express this ancestral viral gene.

originally posted by: soficrow
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I can't find the post but someone suggested that Ebola virus particles could "hitchhike" on droplets during a co-infection with flu or a cold. Sounds plausible to me. Also, research shows that Ebola viruses have been recombining and mutating rather quickly in the wild - not as fast as influenza, but looks critical.

I posted this in my other Ebola thread, but if fits here too:


UPDATE

Death Toll tops 90 - with cases confirmed in Guinea and Liberia; suspected in Mali and Sierra Leone.

The World Health Organization and other international agencies dismiss the importance of the Guinea outbreak based on past experience with the Ebola virus - they all expect this outbreak to burn itself out. And it's true, even though Ebola is scary as hell, it HAS been easy to stop with quarantine and tight hygeine controls. In the past.

BUT - this "outbreak" is very different.

* There is a huge geographic spread with several "centers" of infection.
* Containment is hampered by lack of awareness, trained medical personnel and accessible, appropriate medical facilities - far more than 'normal' given the spread and need to cover several centers.

MORE
* All previous Ebola outbreaks have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda - thousands of miles from Guinea. Supposedly, Ebola requires direct contact to spread. So how did the virus travel thousands of miles to Guinea without leaving any evidence?

* The Guinea outbreak started in Guekedou and Macenta in rural Guinea (about 35 miles apart), but then jumped to Conarky over 400 miles away by the main road. How did it do that if it kills too quickly to spread far?

* One of the latest cases in Liberia involves a man who had never travelled to Guinea and had NO contact with any Guinea cases. He is from the town of Tapeta, more than 250 miles and a five hour car journey from the Guinean border. How did HE get infected? Is there more than one epicenter? More than one source?

* Liberia and Sierra Leone are close to the original outbreak center at Guededou and Macenta, but Mali is hundreds of miles away. How did the virus get to Mali?


The evidence suggests this particular Zaire Ebola virus is different - getting around with unprecedented speed, and originating from several source, not just one. This Ebola outbreak is NOT "business as usual," as Medicins Sans Frontiers has been saying all along. It is not restricted geographically and is not contained.

Guinea is resource rich, but has not been effectively raped as yet. Perhaps an out-of-control Ebola epidemic will set the nation up for an economic "rescue" by international consortiums down the road. And maybe "tame" the rest of Africa too? Make the natives more amenable to proper colonization?




Mali suspects first Ebola cases as regional death toll tops 90

Insects, mites, mosquitos?

Bugs can ride a truck from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the Western Hemisphere. Especially a open cargo bay truck.

I thought Ebola Mosquito/Insect would happen before Ebola Airborne.

a reply to: Semicollegiate

Both Ebola and rabies can be airborne - but it's not efficient. I'm thinking maybe insect vectors too - and most likely, soil sequestration. Meaning it hides out in the soil, which makes deforestation, mining etc. a huge issue. But I haven't forgotten about the possibility of corporate bioterrorism...

And apparently it is also sexually transmitted.

Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.

www.who.int...

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Yep. And in breast milk too. Plus, given the post-recovery symptoms (when they occur), suspicion is high that the virus sequesters in other organ tissues too.

....Just so you know, this is not uncommon with a lot of diseases. Biology ain't what it used to be - a lot of dogma is being thrown out the window (unless you're protecting book sales or tenure).

Just to recap: airborne transmission is inefficient (so far) and the Ebola virus does recombine in the wild.

NOTE: The experiment cited in the OP involved airborne transmission of the Zaire Ebola strain.

In-contact transmission of Zaire-EBOV (ZEBOV) between pigs was demonstrated experimentally. Here we show ZEBOV transmission from pigs to cynomolgus macaques without direct contact.

INTERESTING UPDATE

The first WHO health worker just got infected - and a Ronald R. Cherry, MD just published a comprehensive overview of Ebola's airborne capacities, recommending the use of full-face HEPA respirators while working with Ebola patients.

The UN's World Health Organization on Sunday, August 24, announced a first Ebola infection among the health experts it has dispatched to battle the raging epidemic in West Africa…

Airborne Transmission of Ebola
August 24, 2014

The public has been misinformed regarding human-to-human transmission of Ebola. Assurances that Ebola can be transmitted only through direct contact with bodily fluids need to be seriously scrutinized in the wake of the West Africa outbreak.

The Canadian Health Department states that airborne transmission of Ebola is strongly suspected and the CDC admits that Ebola can be transmitted in situations where there is no physical contact between people, i.e.: via direct airborne inhalation into the lungs or into the eyes, or via contact with airborne fomites which adhere to nearby surfaces. That helps explain why 81 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have died in West Africa to date. These courageous healthcare providers use careful CDC-level barrier precautions such as gowns, gloves, and head cover, but it appears they have inadequate respiratory and eye protection. Dr. Michael V. Callahan, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital who has worked in Africa during Ebola outbreaks said that minimum CDC level precautions
“led to the infection of my nurses and physician co-workers who came in contact with body fluids.”

Currently the CDC advises healthcare workers to use goggles and simple face masks for respiratory and eye protection, and a fitted N-95 mask during aerosol-generating medical procedures. Since so many doctors and nurses are dying in West Africa, it is clear that this level of protection is inadequate. Full face respirators with P-100 (HEPA) replacement filters would provide greater airway and eye protection, and I believe this would save the lives of many doctors, nurses, and others who come into close contact with, or in proximity to, Ebola victims.

Insect borne Ebola would be harder to contain by quarantine, which is why I felt it to be the prerequisite of the worst next outbreak.

I can see your point more clearly now about airborne viruses.

Any virus that can agglutinate sufficiently to make a mass will have a protected core of viruses shielded by an outer layer of the same virus.

You were right. Airborne Ebola is more likely than insect borne Ebola.

Ebola is not yet airborne in humans - but if it's left alone to "burn itself out" in West Africa, it will have plenty of opportunities to develop the mutation. Which is why it is critical to get in there and stop it. ...Even without becoming airborne, the virus has overwhelmed efforts to stop it.

Ebola in the air? A nightmare that could happen

Today, the Ebola virus spreads only through direct contact with bodily fluids, such as blood and vomit. But some of the nation's top infectious disease experts worry that this deadly virus could mutate and be transmitted just by a cough or a sneeze.

"It's the single greatest concern I've ever had in my 40-year public health career," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "I can't imagine anything in my career -- and this includes HIV -- that would be more devastating to the world than a respiratory transmissible Ebola virus."

….Every time a new person gets Ebola, the virus gets another chance to mutate and develop new capabilities. Osterholm calls it "genetic roulette."

…..Even without becoming airborne, the virus has overwhelmed efforts to stop it.

.

a reply to: soficrow

Even without becoming airborne, the virus has overwhelmed efforts to stop it.

Well said, Soficrow.

a reply to: drwill

Thanks, but I have to point out that CNN's correspondent said it - "Even without becoming airborne, the virus has overwhelmed efforts to stop it." ....'Course she paraphrased what I've been saying for a while now.

a reply to: drwill

And then there's this...

Replication, Pathogenicity, Shedding, and Transmission of Zaire ebolavirus in Pigs

....Results. Following mucosal exposure, pigs replicated ZEBOV to high titers (reaching 107 median tissue culture infective doses/mL), mainly in the respiratory tract, and developed severe lung pathology. Shedding from the oronasal mucosa was detected for up to 14 days after infection, and transmission was confirmed in all naive pigs cohabiting with inoculated animals.

Conclusions. These results shed light on the susceptibility of pigs to ZEBOV infection and identify an unexpected site of virus amplification and shedding linked to transmission of infectious virus.

Discussion
.........There is increasing experimental evidence indicating that the Ebola virus glycoprotein can mediate entry from the apical side into intact airway epithelia of mouse, nonhuman primate, or human origin [28, 30–32]. The presence of Ebola antigens was also detected in the respiratory mucosa, alveoli, and pulmonary lymphatic tissue of nonhuman primates following aerosolized Ebola challenge, demonstrating that the virus can infect nonhuman primates through mucosal exposure with ebolavirus [33].

.....These studies underline some differences in the pathology induced by ZEBOV in pigs, compared with nonhuman primates and humans. In contrast to the severe systemic syndrome often leading to shock and death in primates, pigs developed a respiratory syndrome that could be mistaken for other porcine respiratory diseases.

....These data also have implications for the management of human outbreaks following accidental or hypothetically intentional exposure of pigs to Ebola virus.(!)

Is this the start of agressive biting by
infected Ebola victims.

www.usnews.com... 014/09/22/man-bitten-by-ebola-patient-flown-to-switzerland

originally posted by: rigel4
Is this the start of agressive biting by
infected Ebola victims.

www.usnews.com... 014/09/22/man-bitten-by-ebola-patient-flown-to-switzerland

yes, the zombie wave is starting, since that is the answer you want to hear.

a reply to: soficrow
True.