Ebola "Seems" to Have Spread to Asia [Bangladesh]

There have been reports of the virus known as Ebola has made its way into Asia. This virus is known to exist in Africa and outbreaks are quite common including but not limited to recent outbreaks in Sudan, Uganda, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and suspected cases in Kenya. At the time of the recent outbreaks there were several threads on ATS and many of us thought that this could be a mutated strain as the infection rate of the disease was rather alarming and seemed to be very contagious and was very difficult to quarantine.

If this has found it's way into Asia then we could have a problem due to the high population density and lack of medical facilities to treat this disease, plus it would be very difficult to quarantine an outbreak in a place such as Bangladesh and many other neighboring countries.

Please keep in mind that they seem to be trying to downplay this "possible" appearance/outbreak of Ebola so far, as they did recently with the African outbreaks. The WHO was all over the place with conlicting statements during the African outbreak and I expect the same lack of transparency from them if this does turn out to be Ebola.

That being said, this could be absolutely nothing at all, but I am not convinced that this is as "unimportant" as they are making it sound.

The terrifying hemorrhagic fever known as Ebola virus, or one of its relatives, seems to have made its way into Asia, specifically Bangladesh, a new report indicates

www.businessinsider.com...

These reports are unconfirmed so far as it may be a relative to the Ebola virus or a mutated strain.

This does not necessarily mean it was spread from human to human as it can be spread by animals such as bats for example.

Here is the RSOE EDIS report on the suspected outbreak.

The terrifying hemorrhagic fever known as Ebola virus, or one of its relatives, seems to have made its way into Asia, specifically Bangladesh, a new report indicates. The new study, published in the February 2013 issue of the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases and conduced by the EcoHealth Alliance, indicates that bats in Bangladesh could be an animal reservoir for the disease. There haven't been any reported cases of Ebola in the country, but this means there is potential. Between April 2012 and March 2011, researchers tested several species of bats for antibodies to Ebola-related viruses (evidence the virus had infected the bats and caused an immune reaction). They found anti-Ebola antibodies in 5 of the 276 bats (3.5 percent) they tested from the region. The antibodies they found were specifically a reaction to Ebola Zaire, the most dangerous of the viral strains. This is the first time they've seen antibodies to Ebola in the area, but it's also the first screen for them. We don't know if they've always been in the area or if the virus is spreading. What the researchers can say, though, is that this evidence extends the known range of the Zaire Ebola virus to mainland Asia. This could have important consequences for human health, they write. Authorities in Asia should be on the lookout for hemorrhagic fevers that could be Ebola, or related to Ebola.

hisz.rsoe.hu...

If these reports are proven to be true then we should expect this to spread. If bats are carrying this virus then it's very probable that it will eventually infect the human population which would be very concerning.

I certainly hope that we do not have a widespread outbreak of Ebola due to animals such as bats who carry the virus who could easily release it into the human population which would be a complete disaster.

The remainder of my post and conclusion will be speculative so please take it with a grain of salt.

Many people say Ebola has been weaponized, and many of these people have been ridiculed as crazy conspiracy theorists. Personally, I am not totally convinced that it has been weaponized but would not hold it past certain organizations with certain agendas from actually doing this.

Whether this is a natural event or some kind of test we should all be concerned and this is definitely a story that we all need to keep an eye on.

ETA:

My mention of weaponized Ebola was purely speculative and was not intended to be the main focus of the thread. My main intention was to point out the potential outbreak in Asia.

That being said, I am open for all sorts of discussion so if you feel like discussing the possible weaponized theory I mentioned in my OP please fee free to go ahead and do so but I am more interested in discussing the possible existence of this virus in Asia, and the potential for it to spread to other regions with a high population density.

The problem with Ebola being weaponized is it kills too fast to really be an effective weapon. You'll see a lot of deaths from it, but it's a fast burner. It would be a good fear weapon, like a dirty bomb, but as far as a major bio weapon goes, from everything I've read about that possibility it is unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. You would have to start it out from a lot of points to really spread it around.

Places like Hong Kong, or Japan, where the population is really packed in together, it could potentially have a major effect, but at the same time people there are so fearful of their health and are always washing their hands, and wearing masks, so that might help as well.

reply to post by Zaphod58

The problem with Ebola being weaponized is it kills too fast to really be an effective weapon.

With all due respect, you have contradicted yourself. A fast kill would make Ebola a perfect weapon. Ebola symptoms are not immediate and the disease is contagious before the symptoms kick in so it could be widespread before anyone even had a chance to know about it. Ebola has a rather high death rate as well which means the survival rate is very low.

There are currently no proven Ebola treatment options that can kill the Ebola virus. Ebola treatment focuses on providing relief of Ebola symptoms as the body fights the virus. This is called supportive care.

Death occurs in 50 to 90 percent of Ebola cases. Ebola research scientists do not understand why some patients are able to recover from Ebola hemorrhagic fever and others are not; however, it is known that Ebola victims usually have not developed a significant immune response to the Ebola virus at the time of death.

ebola.emedtv.com...

If you get Ebola, you better hope you fall into the percentage of people who are able to survive. The survival rate depends on the strain. There is no treatment, just supportive care which means it all depends whether or not your immune system is capable of fighting it. People with strong immune systems have died of Ebola so no one is safe if you really think about it, it's all about luck.

The UN World Health Organization has identified the strain in Kibaale as Ebola-Sudan, the same strain responsible for some 425 infections and 224 deaths in Uganda in 2000-2001 and one death in 2011; another strain, Ebola-Bundibugyo - named after a western Ugandan district - killed some 42 people in the country in 2007-2008.

As you and I both pointed out, imagine if this were to spread to humans in a high population density area, the results would be frightening.

Hmmm..... Well,

1. No human cases = GOOD news.

2. No active cases anywhere... Better news!

3. 5 bats out of the whole bunch had been infected. Okay, BAD news.

Now where the heck had those 5 been and what were they exposed to? Bats eat insects. Insects feed on blood in some places. Human, depending on the critter and area. Could the virus have gone through the food chain to these 5 bats that way? If so...again, where from? That's a pretty far leap in geography for bats to show infections they've survived and have antibodies to. Isn't it?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


You ask some very good questions that I do not have the answers to. If we had the answers to your questions we might be able to come up with a more concrete hypothesis on the potential risks or lack of danger from these reports.

Personally, I believe this report to be quite worrisome.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


A fast kill makes it a good immediate weapon, but means that it doesn't spread well. So you get a lot of immediate cases, and some third and fourth generation kills, but not much beyond that. Yeah, you're still going to end up with a few thousand dead, depending on how it's handled, but you're not probably not going to see the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of deaths that other bioweapons could give you, because they spread better than Ebola.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

I agree that it's worrisome because the way of point A to point B isn't possible in nature. Lets just be open about what we're talking about there. Either someone brought animals infected that got into the wild/food chain or what I'd really be worried about and want to hear the more detailed strain info about is people from African nations/outbreaks coming into Bangladesh and the virus getting up to bats that way.

Yeah.. Mosquito becomes bat snack with wicked indigestion. That's a real heavy populated area for Ebola. Indeed.

I agree it's a bad Bio-Weapon by the way, but not for the same reason. It's not viable as a weapon because it's entirely uncontrollable once released. People could get stupid and panic and fly places... there is no vaccine and there is no defense, as you note. That leaves those who would release it as potential victims with no way to stop it. Bad weapon. Unless......you're a doomer type/terrorist who doesn't much care about control or futures and only focuses on causes. err.... real bad weapon in a different way there.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Ouch.. not good.
Especially that it is Zaire which is by far the worst. Some ebola strains have lower mortality rate like 25 - 40 percent and I think the average between them all is about 70 percent, but that average seems to be so high because Zaire has a mortality rate of around 90 percent, I believe.

I am not a hundred percent on that because it's been a while since I read about ebola. Actually I was only familiar with Zaire, Sudan, and Reston. Apparently there have been more strains noted for quite a while now. There is:
Zaire (the one that is possibly the cause of this outbreak and the worst)

Reston (which only effects monkeys and was first found in a monkey house in Virginia),

Sudan

Tai Forest (Ivory Coast)

Bundibugyo

en.wikipedia.org...

I've found this virus interesting ever since I read the hotzone 5 or 6 years ago. Once you realize how horrible it is you can appreciate how frightening it is that the Soviets crossed it with smallpox in a lab and created ebola-pox.. which unfortunately is a real thing now.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

I agree it's a bad Bio-Weapon by the way, but not for the same reason. It's not viable as a weapon because it's entirely uncontrollable once released. People could get stupid and panic and fly places... there is no vaccine and there is no defense, as you note. That leaves those who would release it as potential victims with no way to stop it.

As I pointed out I am not completely convinced about the weaponized Ebola, but...

This is the conspiracy nut in me speaking, but who's to say that they do not have a vaccine or a cure for this potential strain of Ebola. If they did have a way of protecting themselves this would be the perfect weapon as I pointed out to Zaphod the symptoms are not immediate and the virus is contagious before symptoms are visible which means that even with an effective quarantine this would not be easily controlled.

The only ones who would be safe from this would be those who have access to the vaccine or whatever type of protection they may have to combat this virus.

Please keep in mind that my main intention was to point out this possible outbreak, not to focus only on the weaponized portion of my OP as it was merely speculation on my behalf with the intention to shed some alternative possibilities.

That being said I have no problems if members want to focus on the possibility of this being a weaponized strain, if it's even Ebola for that matter.

Personally, if I were a betting man, my money would be that this is a natural event and not a weaponized scenario.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow

I read Hot Zone as well and a couple others less documentary style but no less horrifying. Yeah, on a scale to 10 on scary, this little beastie is a 12. It's about the only virus outbreak into populated America I could hear about where I'll simply say I have a place I've always wanted to spend a few weeks camping.

That is the good news, like Zaphod said. it DOES burn real hot and real quick, huh? So the camping trip wouldn't need to last long. It'd all be over quick enough where it was going to hit at all. I have a shortwave radio to help listen....and simply hope it never, ever, ever comes to that. I mean, the Spanish Flu was just a minor cold by comparison.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Ebola : The virus from hell is what I call it.

The antibodies they found were specifically a reaction to Ebola Zaire, the most dangerous of the viral strains.

Yea....that's uh....problably the worst strain that can be found. Very bad.

www.businessinsider.com...

The Zaire strain of the disease is often fatal (up to 80 percent of infected people die) and can be extremely infectious. Other Ebola-related diseases and subtypes are less lethal, but still dangerous.

One of the worst of the worst.

This is the first time they've seen antibodies to Ebola in the area, but it's also the first screen for them.

This could be a bit clouded. Maybe this strain has been there for a long time, but hasnt evolved or spread much (only 3.5% of the bats were infected) ? That could be good for humans, meaning the virus hasnt mutated in that environment. Im guessing there will be alot more screen for Ebola in this area in the future.

But.... If this strain actually has made it there just recently, then that is a whole different situation. Somehow the most deadly strain of Ebola has spread over a continent and is definantly still living.

Im unable to find what species of bats were the ones infected with this strain. To my knowledge, vampire bats are not found in Asia, only in South, Central, and the lower part of North America. So, if that is true, then these infected bats havent contracted the disease via the blood of other animals. Im going to guess these infected bats either...

A: Ate some insect carrying this Zaire strain of Ebola,or...
B: Got bit by an insect carrying the strain (such as a mosquito)

More research will be needed to figure out how Zaire Ebola made its way over a continent.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

Oh, on it most likely being by a 'natural' virus, yes. I agree. Weaponizing Ebola would be far beyond the capabilities of anyone but a nation-state and then, only a VERY few are capable of it. None of THEM either make such a nightmare or, in the case of the Russians, they'd never EVER let that get out or get stolen. Remember the Moscow attacks after all...and others. Naww.. I'm with you on it being natural in terms of the bug itself.

I mean un-natural in that there is a BIG body of water between The Sudan or Nigeria or any of Africa and Asia. Insects didn't buzz across it of course... Bats don't fly that far... and fish don't carry it that I know of. So... Man brought it somehow. I'd think RSOE being the reporting source certainly justifies concern and this is next months Journal? Indeed, some do think the news is important to get circulated early.

Here's hoping it's a fluky thing no one ever quite understands because it never really makes itself known. That's the weirdest thing about some of the worst viruses, isn't it? They just kinda pop up, wreak bloody havoc, and then vanish again as suddenly as coming.

By the end of 2014 there will be a level 1 human trial on a possible cure for Ebola. Monkeys that are injected within 24 hours of catching the virus have a 100% survival rate. If it's within 48 hours, they have a 50% survival rate.

Now, though, researchers from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada, have developed a cocktail of antibodies called ZMAb which cures cynomolgus monkeys infected with the Zaire virus—the deadliest strain of Ebola. The treatment works best when administered within 24 hours of infection, with 100 per cent of monkeys treated in such a way surviving. The researchers also report, however, that two of four monkeys given the medication 48 hours after infection also lived. By contrast, any monkey left untreated dies within five days. The results appear in Science Translational Medicine.[\ex]
gizmodo.com...

I found this to add to things. It has a bit more info...

Washington, Jan 18 (UNB) - Fruit bats in Bangladesh are harbouring a new version of Ebola virus, which causes severe hemorrhagic fever, a fatal condition afflicting humans and primates, says a new finding.The study by EcoHealth Alliance, a non profit organisation that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, extends the range of this lethal disease further than previously suspected to now include mainland Asia. The virus was first detected in Congo.

Source

reply to post by buni11687


What's interesting about the bats is that bats injected with Ebola don't die. There's speculation that they are what keeps the virus alive in the jungle regions because of that.

If ebola ever reached the USA, there would be a vaccine out for every strain within a week, so stop worrying guys.

The thing is, nobody pays ebola much attention because it's a big dark and scary disease, but it's busy being big dark and scary somewhere else, so the leading biolabs in the world are busy trying to cure AIDs and cancer.

Interestingly, we don't even know enough about ebola right now to say for sure where it spends its dormant periods - there's massive conjecture that it's bats, but we don't know for certain.

It's unlikely to spread globally, and if it does, we'll get rid of it like polio, tb and smallpox, because humanity does stuff like that - but only if it affects the people with the ability. If it's affecting someone else, the people with the ability to eradicate it tend to ignore it.

Btw, does anyone remember H1N1?

Edit: bio-weapons are designed to spread on a national level from a single patient zero. Introducing ebola as a weapon would result in one dead town or city, but not much beyond that. It's extremely hard to transmit - body fluids only, not including sweat. There is some speculation that one of the strains has gone airborne lately, but it's one of the less dangerous ones.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Yeah that's I guess the upside to the fact that it's so fatal lol. It kills people so fast they don't get much of a chance to spread it. However it could be manipulated or weaponized. I wonder how long the Soviets ebolapox incubates/kills..

Nevermind.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Thanks for sharing this as I was not aware about it.

Due to the seemingly rapid spread of this virus and its various strains to different regions of the world it would be a great thing to come up with a cure/vaccine/treatment. But, that leaves me in fear as well due to the track record of those who manufacture these cures/vaccines/treatments and the trials they perform.

I would never volunteer, but I am confident that they will have no problem finding human guinea pigs in Africa willing to test out this possible treatment.

Let's hope this does more than good, the last thing I would want is for them to create a new super strain of Ebola while trying to eliminate current ones.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Thank you for contributing the additional source and information

I have a feeling we might be hearing a whole lote more about this in the upcoming week or so.