Ebola death toll jumps to 467

a reply to: RoScoLaz

Don't ever watch that movie with my husband. He'll point out everything wrong with it from the perspective of a microbiologist.

a reply to: ketsuko

How about this one?



This whole thing is reminding me of that movie..

a reply to: Wookiep

I don't know. I never tried watching that one with him. He's a serious kill joy. I don't watch illusionists either because he's the sort that tries to figure out how they did it instead of just suspending disbelief and enjoying.

a reply to: ketsuko

Oh you're missing out then.. and the Illusionist was a great movie, you should take some time apart and watch it yourself.

a reply to: ketsuko

ok i won't

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: CloudsTasteMetallic

It truly is unprecedented (in recent history anyway, *cough, bubonic plague, cough*) as far as the rapid geographical spread is concerned.

Thats just stupid.

1918 influenza out break for one and a number of other influenza outbreaks in the 20th century.

The bubonic plague reference I used was simply the first thing to come to mind, not to mention the most widely known example of a virulent outbreak. Influenza vaccines are widely available now, unlike any strain of Marbug/Ebola as in the current situation.

Thank you for enlightening me, I was not readily aware of these events until you reminded me.

People are worried about it mutating, I'm worried it already has!

Wasn't this supposed to be Zaire, with a 90% fatality rate, making it very difficult for it to spread too far. Well this mortality rate is at 60% so it appears not to be Zaire strain. Or it has already mutated to some degree and become more infectious.

The fact that a lot of the dead are health workers is also concerning, as you would think that if this was a strain they had dealt with previously, there would be procedures in place to limit the affect; you can't accuse the majority of those people of being ignorant to hygiene or mitigating best practice.

Cases are now skyrocketing at an alarming rate, for the first couple of months of the outbreak, it was very slowly climbing and suddenly were now getting close to 1000 infected, at this rate where do you think we'll be in another 4 months ... 10,000? I think at that point Europeans might be getting a bit more worried about this "localised tribal disease".

a reply to: Dem0nc1eaner

The issue with health care workers in Africa is they are poorly trained.

Doctor training is dismal and nurse training is next to non existent. With past Ebola and Marburg outbreaks Nurses and Doctors have been on the firing line as they are just not trained to deal with the situation, nurse in particular have very very narrow training.

i did mean the start of a cull
MAYBE
a reply to: crazyewok

a reply to: crazyewok

I'm sure you're right about that, it's just hard to imagine anyone, let alone health workers, not educating themselves enough to keep themselves safe to some extent, particularly with how awful the virus is. I mean we're not talking about a runny nose here, it's a terrifying prospect to face.

But I still feel that this is unprecedented. It may seem like quite small numbers at the moment, but I think the previous "record" was less than a 100 iirc. And that's from all strains. So, this is not behaving like any Ebola we've seen before, as far as I can tell.

a reply to: Dem0nc1eaner

I think the record is around 500 in a past Zaire outbreak.

But a case in point to how bad the training is, in one of the first Marburg outbreak (Ebola twin sister) a Doctor in Kenya gave a infected mouth to mouth CPR without any sort of precautions.

Where are the DRACO updated vaccs? And would they help?

DRACO ("Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer") is a group of experimental antiviral drugs under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. DRACO is reported to have broad-spectrum efficacy against many infectious viruses, including Marburg marburgvirus

and Zaire ebolavirus,

dengue flavivirus, Amapari and Tacaribe arenavirus, Guama bunyavirus, H1N1 influenza and rhinovirus. DRACO is reported to induce rapid apoptosis selectively in virus-infected mammalian cells, while leaving uninfected cells unharmed.[1][2]

As of January 2014, work has moved to Draper Laboratory for further testing and development; "the team looks forward to larger scale animal trials and clinical human trials within a decade or less".[3] Rider presented at the SENS Foundation's SENS6 conference.[4]

I know it says within a decade or less but is there nothing that can be used as of yet?

a reply to: Rezlooper

Ar the same time, Airport Security is being ramped up big time in the UK. I hope they also check people for this Virus!

We got too many illegals fleeing parts of Africa and turning up in Italy, so this really needs to be contained.

a reply to: Dem0nc1eaner

Bump this reply when there are cases in Europe in 4 months

originally posted by: lostbook
Well ATS, this Ebola outbreak is now the largest and the most deadliest on record having killed 467 of the 759 known infected individuals.

...As you all know, Ebola is a very deadly disease with a 90% mortality rate. It hasn't spread outside of Africa yet but it could very easily spread outside of its borders due to human error or if it mutates...

FYI - 467 deaths from 759 cases means the fatality rate for this strain is 60-65%, NOT the 90% some strains have. This strain already IS a new mutation - but you're right, it's not airborne. Yet.



More info here:

Ebola Epidemic Could Become Global Crisis

Ebola: Bio-Terrorism for Corporate Economic Control?

Surely there are more cases at this time as the 467 death toll was as of a few days ago. I'd bet the next time they give actual numbers it'll have climbed into the 550-600 range.

We must also keep in mind that these numbers are only the cases that are confirmed and reported. There could be dozens of other cases where people went to die in solitude.

Any update on the rumors about suspected cases in Italy and Spain?

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: Dem0nc1eaner

I think the record is around 500 in a past Zaire outbreak.

But a case in point to how bad the training is, in one of the first Marburg outbreak (Ebola twin sister) a Doctor in Kenya gave a infected mouth to mouth CPR without any sort of precautions.

I remember reading something but can't quite remember what - Which adds to this.

It was either a Marburg outbreak or one of the Ebolas where someone infected went heading to one of the biggest hospitals they could. The hospital at the time was giving out medicine. The nurses were reusing needles, pretty much just rinsing them off where they stood in tubs of water. Needless to say because of that the situation turned pretty bad there because of these types of actions.

a reply to: skitzspiricy

That was the first Ebola outbreak a missionary aid station in the deep jungle giving out anti malarials.

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: skitzspiricy

That was the first Ebola outbreak a missionary aid station in the deep jungle giving out anti malarials.

Ah yes, thank you

I remember reading it thinking it's not a wonder why blood borne diseases spread so easilly in such places.

I would imagine these days they are better educated in terms of not reusing needles but sadly in in these types of places, funding is low which forces some of these medical centres/hospitals to cut corners. That along with poor training and knowledge is always a recipe for disaster.