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

reply to post by Zaphod58


My issue was with the wording

truly effective weapon

it makes no real sense, maybe as a weapon of war but then bioweapons do not really make sense, so probably you intended to cover only the case of use as a large scale or duration weapon effectiveness. Every object is as effective as the user, it all depends in the use it is given...

Well, hypothetically, if this were Zaire's natural reservoir's range, it would help explain why there is a natural Ebola variant (Reston) that is found around the Philippines. Before now, it was quite odd that pretty much all strains resided in Africa except one waaaaaay to the east. Remember, Ebola is quite an elusive little virus. There is no predicting when or where it will pop up.

As for natural mutations, I find this highly unlikely. The ebolavirus has a non segmented genome, which dies not allow for much antigenic drift nor shift, and makes further mutation much more difficult. Compare with the highly segmented influenza virus and its continuously changing genome, and you'll understand ebolavirus stability. Further, if this were a bioweapon strain it wouldn't have shown up as Zaire. These tests are ridiculously sensitive.

reply to post by Dispo


Not a cure: prevention. Vaccines cure nothing. Merely gives your immune system a fair warning.

reply to post by Dispo


Only if you get the infection very early on. You have to get the head of the animal that bit you, they determine if it had rabies and treat. If you can't get the animal they start you on treatment anyway, however if you don't seek treatment and it progresses at all there is nothing they can do.

I think they have save 1 person with rabies. They did so with an experimental treatment where they put the girl into a coma to let the virus run through her. All other progressed cases are 100 percent fatal I am pretty sure.

reply to post by TruthxIsxInxThexMist


2-21 day incubation period, homes. That's why the CDC waits 21 days from the last case before declaring an epidemic zone clear of the disease. I'd like to see any airport screen for sick people when they look like healthy individuals... Good luck

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Yeah. I know all that.. Been through it myself ( bit by a possibly rabid dog while working for a vet... Got vaccinated, but pup was clean). I still consider post exposure rabies vaccines to be preventative, on account that once symptoms show, it's 99.9% fatal. The virus replicates so slowly at first that the vaccines are doing what they are supposed to be doing: warning your immune system. Putting up "wanted" signs for your body's cops before he gang violence erupts.

Yeah, one girl Survived. As wonderful as that is, it's hardly a viable sample size to declare "we've cured it".

Originally posted by Shenten
Well, hypothetically, if this were Zaire's natural reservoir's range, it would help explain why there is a natural Ebola variant (Reston) that is found around the Philippines. Before now, it was quite odd that pretty much all strains resided in Africa except one waaaaaay to the east. Remember, Ebola is quite an elusive little virus. There is no predicting when or where it will pop up.

As for natural mutations, I find this highly unlikely. The ebolavirus has a non segmented genome, which dies not allow for much antigenic drift nor shift, and makes further mutation much more difficult. Compare with the highly segmented influenza virus and its continuously changing genome, and you'll understand ebolavirus stability. Further, if this were a bioweapon strain it wouldn't have shown up as Zaire. These tests are ridiculously sensitive.

You beat me to it! This would be at least the second time Ebola would have shown up in Asia, the first time being in the Phillipines.

The other people here who have read The Hot Zone would have read of Kitum Cave. SOme have theorized that this is where all strains of Ebola, Marburg and HIV originated. Most caves are formed by water but Kitum Cave in Uganda shows no evidence of water formation. Author of The Hot Zone, Richard Preston, theorizes the cave could have been dug up by elephants over thousands of years of the digging there to snack on salt. They may have helped but the origins of the cave having a supernatural origin seem too alarming.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


What? You can vaccinate everyone in the world against rabies right now, point is it's not a cost effective vaccine, so nobody will pay for it.

You could also cure everyone in the world of rabies right now, if they had it, but nobody does so they don't.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
*snip*

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...

*snip*

Interesting, and certainly something worth watching, but I suspect that, since they never checked the bats before, that they always had the immunity. Since they have no reported cases, I have to wonder, why did they screen the bats there? They never did before, so why now? I am expecting to hear about some new "Ebola vaccine", that they want everyone to take. Only 50-60% of people get a flu shot, so maybe they need something scarier to get people in line? Speculation, I know, but that's my take on this.

Originally posted by LadyGreenEyes
They never did before, so why now?

Because science advances, whether you like it or not.

Originally posted by Shenten
reply to post by TruthxIsxInxThexMist

 

2-21 day incubation period, homes. That's why the CDC waits 21 days from the last case before declaring an epidemic zone clear of the disease. I'd like to see any airport screen for sick people when they look like healthy individuals... Good luck

Scary!!

Originally posted by Dispo

Originally posted by LadyGreenEyes
They never did before, so why now?

Because science advances, whether you like it or not.

That's no answer. Ebola has been around a long time, and they have been able to screen for antibodies for a long time, also. Such organizations do not have unlimited funding, and thus should be spending what they have on things that are needed. They have no cases of ebola in Bangladesh, according to the information provided by the OP. If there are no cases, why start testing bats there? That makes zero sense. No cases, no reason given? We have a disease that's been on one continent, and I have not seen anything to indicate that it's moved elsewhere. So why all the testing now? That isn't science advancing; that's money spent on testing that seems unnecessary. There has to be a reason. If they just learned to test bats, then doing that in places where they have had ebola would make sense. Doing it in places it's never been, where there are no cases, makes no sense at all.

You know, this came up at a very creepy time. I was just getting done joking about how Ebola may get thrown into the mess after all of these illnesses going through my work place. (The casino never cleans there chips, and frankly, we're sadly a casino that attracts ass more than class)

* and F for you!

though i dont doubt you given the link for support. The CDC website has nothing recent. However, it does state there was an outbreak in the Luwero District of Central Congo in December......could be wrong

CDC

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes


The reason could be as simple as scientists trying to establish a range for Ebola. The tests aren't that hard, and it isn't too much of a long shot that Ebola of some sort is in Asia on account of Reston residing in the Philippines. As long as Ebola has been around (which, upon reflexion, hasn't truly been very long considering the first case was recorded in 1976), its still a very sporadic and elusive disease. They still aren't sure that bats are the main vector or just a passive reservoir. There's plenty of reasons to conduct research. Not everything needs be nefarious.

Originally posted by Shenten
reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

 

The reason could be as simple as scientists trying to establish a range for Ebola. The tests aren't that hard, and it isn't too much of a long shot that Ebola of some sort is in Asia on account of Reston residing in the Philippines. As long as Ebola has been around (which, upon reflexion, hasn't truly been very long considering the first case was recorded in 1976), its still a very sporadic and elusive disease. They still aren't sure that bats are the main vector or just a passive reservoir. There's plenty of reasons to conduct research. Not everything needs be nefarious.

If that was the case, then logic would dictate they would have done so long before now. They would have wanted to know, when it first came out, how widespread it was. 1976 to the present day, and they just now get around to testing that? Just seems unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.