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

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


All they really have to do is wait for an outbreak, and they'll have all the volunteers they'll ever need. I know if I was in an outbreak, and thought I had it, I'd volunteer. That's a horrible way to die, and if I could avoid it with a test drug, I'd try it.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Do you know any 5 year old children?

If so, at the next opportunity, offer him or her a choice. Ask if he or she would like to have one piece of candy now, or 5 pieces of candy in 10 minutes.

That's human rationale in a nutshell.

Edit: why did you delete your post?

You might also want to check out this news article from November 2012. I was always under the impression the Ebola wasnt airborne, and was only spread atleast in humans, from blood to blood/and bodily fluids.

Growing concerns over 'in the air' transmission of Ebola

Canadian scientists have shown that the deadliest form of the ebola virus could be transmitted by air between species

In experiments, they demonstrated that the virus was transmitted from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact between them.

Airborne transmission from one species to a different species, and this was just found out a bit over 2 months ago......not good.

The researchers say they believe that limited airborne transmission might be contributing to the spread of the disease in some parts of Africa.

As for bats...

The fruit bat has long been considered the natural reservoir of the infection. But a growing body of experimental evidence suggests that pigs, both wild and domestic, could be a hidden source of Ebola Zaire - the most deadly form of the virus.

Yup, the Zaire strain is mentioned again, and it's more than bats.

Now, researchers from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the country's Public Health Agency have shown that pigs infected with this form of Ebola can pass the disease on to macaques without any direct contact between the species.

From pigs to monkeys so far. No evidence to show that it is airborne to humans yet.....but then again, arent monkeys somwhat similar to humans? Would it really take the virus much time to evolve to be airborne for humans when it has already become airborne to some species of monkeys?

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


There probably is some work on it, but since in only has a few hundred cases a year when there are outbreaks (maybe a few thousand a year since it's Africa and some probably never get reported). Also, there are other very similar viruses in other parts of the world. There is Marburg, and also Lassa in south America. Look those up sometime.

reply to post by Dispo


I deleted it because I read the part where you already answered about the fact we don't know exactly how it infects humans despite knowing it's common in bats. I figured if you knew that much you probably were smart enough to understand why we don't work on it the same that we work on AIDS and Cancer. I deleted because I didn't want to sound condescending.

reply to post by Dispo

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

I may be contradicting myself from one of my earlier posts, but what makes you so sure they would be able to come up with a vaccine within a week? I'm not saying it's entirely impossible but I would like to know why you are so confident about your claim and why we should not worry.

Hopefully this post did not seem confrontational as it was not my intention but I am curious as to why you are so sure about the portion of your post I quoted.

I'm confident there is a cure for AIDS, but they haven't released it yet so I would be skeptical that they would release any other super cure to various viruses. The medical industry is about treatment not cures since there is more money in it for them that way.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Fair enough, I wouldn't worry about coming across as condescending though, I'm probably worse for that.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


The difference between AIDs and ebola is that AIDs is a money maker for big pharma. Ebola just tends to kill a lot of people who could have been used in the factories and down t' mines so to speak.

Making a vaccine is one of the easiest (relatively speaking) things to do for a known virus, it honestly takes no more than a week from concept to stock. There are only 5 strains of ebola that we know of, so making a multi-faceted vaccine would be child's play (relatively speaking) if it came down to it.

reply to post by Dispo


Yeah.. but I was trying to be respectful. I go into that tone after arguing with idiots on some threads and sometimes it doesn't get switched off.

Anyway.. it's a mysterious virus. We know bats can carry it, monkeys and apes die from it, and while it's probable that people get it from bats, that may not be the main cause of outbreaks.

Do you know if it is for certain that it is transmittable from bat feces? I would assume so and that it's still a live disease in the guano, but I don't know for certain.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Nobody knows, I actually wanted to work on ebola a while ago but there was no major push for it, so it was a pretty dead end.

My own belief is that it's transmitted by bat parasites, not bats themselves, but that's just based on history, not evidence.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


While it could potentially kill thousands or more, the reality is that the outbreaks usually kill less than 300. The 1976 outbreak killed 280, the 1995 outbreak 250, 2000 killed 224, and 2007 187.

The Canadian company working on the cure has tested it on four monkeys with a 100% survival rate in 24 hours, and 50% in 48 hours. They use three injections over three days, using a cocktail approach. They say that it slows the spread of the virus down until the immune system can fight it.

reply to post by Dispo


I found some info here on vaccines. Apparently the funding for the ebola vaccine comes from the US department of Defense because it (as I am sure we all could have guessed) wouldn't be profitable enough an endeavor for "big pharma".

It's actually a startling article because the reason they decided to begin funding the research again is because a some Canadian scientists discovered that the Ebola virus could mutate into an airborn pathogen (something that should have been assumed 30 or so years ago when the monkeys in different cages and people* became infected in Reston Virginia with a strain).
* The people were infected, but that particular strain didn't cause any negative effects and I would probably start there with a vaccine.. I mean.. if I were a scientist.

DoD renews vaccine funding for Ebola

Steps taken

Commercial vaccine unlikely - worth noting that this article is older than the ones discussing renewed funding

reply to post by Zaphod58


Yeah that's why I said it kills a few hundred and was only being speculative about the possibility of a few thousands (only taking into account the isolation and poor communication between some African villages). There are likely plenty of cases each year that are never reported. I believe there was an outbreak in the last few years that killed 300 plus though.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
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..

Sorry for jumping in here, but I must again point out, perhaps I did not elaborate clearly enough in my previous posts...

Yes it kills fast, but that does not mean that it is not easily spread, especially in an urban area with a high population density. Weaponized or not an outbreak of Ebola in any large city would have serious consequences due to the fact that Ebola can be spread before the symptoms are even visible which means a whole lot of people could be infected before a quarantine was put into effect. Even once a quarantine has been established, we all know that urban areas are almost impossible to properly quarantine and any attempts at a full scale quarantine would most likely fail.

This brings me to another speculative conspiracy topic that I am not necessarily endorsing, but wouldn't an outbreak of a virus such as Ebola be the perfect excuse to impose martial law or similar measures?

As I said I do not necessarily endorse this theory but I just wanted to put out some more alternative possibilities as there is usually more than meets the eye, not always though...don't mind me, I'm not usually up this late on a weekday and I'm a bit out of it so please forgive my ramblings

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Two things about Americans that is unique that I think would help out a lot in the case of an outbreak are the fact that we're antisocial as hell, and we help each other out a lot (I know, sounds contradictory doesn't it).

I was reading a book once (fiction, but really good about throwing really accurate real facts in), and in it, Americans stand farther apart when talking to each other than any other country in the world. It's not a huge distance apart, but it might be far enough apart that short of a cough or a sneeze, the virus couldn't survive long enough to get from you to me (it's apparently really fragile in sunlight). Apparently the Japanese have the farthest casual-personal space at 36 inches, then Americans at 18, Europeans at 14-16, and the Middle East at 8-12 inches.

The other thing we have going for us is that if I survive, and some of my neighbors are better before me, in a lot of places they'll be right there helping me get better, and helping to take care of me (more so in smaller towns than big cities, but it still happens).

Just some things to think about.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


It is not as likely to spread before serious symptoms are visible. It's contagious, but not AS contagious other viruses.

Obviously it can spread since it causes vomitting, diarrhea, and coughing, and eventually bleeding out. It is contagious, but the reason it's worth noting the burn out is because unlike the flu and other viruses you can spread after you feel better with Ebola once you start to crash you aren't going to be going about a daily routine you will either be quarantined or dead. Also it happens so rapidly and so severely that you probably aren't going to be spreading much fluid around town.

Not saying it's not cantgious, it is, but I think the major risk would be to people you lived with and it's not a real cause for fear. In a case discussed in the Hot Zone a man crashes and bleeds out in a plane and I don't believe anyone was infected though he was sitting in a stuffy cabin ( I could be wrong about that though - again it's been years since I read it).

My point is that it's not going to be extremely contagious until you start showing the more visible symptoms and by that time you aren't going to be running errands, and you definitely won't be spreading it around if you recover.

I am just trying to avoid the panic people will try to cause with this virus, it doesn't spread like the flu (and by that I mean as quickly/easily, it would spread by the same routes of course).

The real danger would if it mutated and found it's way into a local maintenance host. Then it could start springing up randomly.

Ebola is nearly the perfect virus. Its highly contagious and its death rate is one of the highest in all know viruses. Its only problem is its to “hot”. It gets it victim sick way to fast before the victim has time to spread it to others. Because of this, Ebola has a short cycle and the outbreak burns out to fast.

Don’t get me wrong, if it hits a major population it could be disasters and spread like a wildfire. But with good quarantine practices, it can be stopped from infecting all the world.

Ebola... aah! The one that liquifies one's insides? That's one of the worst diseases ever.
I hope it's not being weaponized and is just natural and will blow over. Not that I condone biological warfare at all, but if Ebola really was the top pick by the people who instated it, they are total sadists.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
The problem with Ebola being weaponized is it kills too fast to really be an effective weapon.

Not necessarily, if biological weapons developers have used viral vectors and mutated strains that can be carried by animals and will mutate in the animals to a more lethal strain that can then spread to humans, it would be a very effective weapon.

Many extremely dangerous experiments and unethical tests of such weapons have happened in remote areas in Africa, occasionally it can get out of control and show up in other places.

Problem is, these extremely dangerous "weapons" are no longer the exclusive domain of the global super-powers.

That eventuality could be more than apparent soon.

reply to post by EllaMarina


The soviets likely already weaponized it. They crossed it with small pox and invented ebolapox. As for dispersal methods, I don't know, but likely.