Deadliest ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa

[Ele'ill]

fatality rate down from 90% to 60%

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/26/world/africa/ebola-outbreak-west-africa/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


(CNN) -- A Liberian man who was hospitalized in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, with the Ebola virus has died, Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.
"The patient was subjected to thorough medical tests ... which confirmed he had the Ebola virus," Chukwu said Friday.
The case has raised fears that the virus could spread beyond the three countries at the center of what health officials say is the deadliest ever Ebola outbreak and into Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria. Lagos has more than 20 million (http://money.cnn.com/gallery/luxury/2014/06/01/rich-real-estate-cities/8.html) residents.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/13/ebola-africa-patients-treatment_n_5582100.html



CONAKRY, Guinea/KENEMA, Sierra Leone, July 13 (Reuters) - Governments and health agencies trying to contain the world's deadliest ever Ebola epidemic in West Africa fear the contagion could be worse than reported because suspicious locals are chasing away health workers and shunning treatment.

From Guinea, where the four-month-old outbreak claimed the first of more than 500 lives, to Sierra Leone, scores of patients are hiding away, believing hospitalization is a "death sentence".

In Guinea's southeastern Forest Region some terrified villagers are shutting off their communities to medical workers, even blocking roads and downing bridges.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/ebola-sierra-leone-on-the-run-capital-freetown_n_5620412.html


FREETOWN, July 25 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone officials appealed for help on Friday to trace the first known resident in the capital with Ebola whose family forcibly removed her from a Freetown hospital after testing positive for the deadly disease.

Radio stations in Freetown, a city of around 1 million inhabitants, broadcast the appeal on Friday to locate a woman who tested positive for the disease that has killed 660 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak was first identified in February.

"Saudatu Koroma of 25 Old Railway Line, Brima Lane, Wellington," the announcement said. "She is a positive case and her being out there is a risk to all. We need the public to help us locate her."

[Ele'ill]

I haven't followed the trends of other outbreaks of various diseases but this doesn't look good that its so close to heavily populated city areas and people are leaving hospitals back into those areas while infected.

[motion denied]

I read in the paper that a leading Ebola specialist who treats people in Sierra Leone has been infected. He's treated over 100 people. At the same camp three nurses died this week.

Horrible.

[Ele'ill]

people like that live and die and nobody will ever know, but they are probably some of the most important folks on the planet, they also have nerves of steel

[Ele'ill]

So again, I'm not really read up on how often outbreaks actually occur vs how often we hear about them but this seems pretty fucking serious like its teetering on the point of no return.



The disease is not contagious until symptoms appear. Symptoms of Ebola (http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/11/health/ebola-fast-facts/index.html) include fever, fatigue and headaches. They can appear two to 21 days after infection, meaning many who are sick don't know it.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/27/world/africa/ebola-american-doctor-infected/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

aid workers/doctors/missionaries getting infected


Liberia has closed its borders in an attempt to stop it from spreading

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/28/health/ebola-outbreak-west-africa/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


Over the weekend, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf closed most of the country's borders. The few points of entry that are still open will have Ebola testing centers and will implement preventive measures, she said. The president also placed restrictions on public gatherings and ordered hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues to play a five-minute video on Ebola safety.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Apparently one man died in Yumen, China of the Ebola virus and they quarantined the whole city of like 300,000 people. So idk, this shit is crazy (www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-23/china-seals-yumen-city-after-outbreak-bubonic-plague).

[Ele'ill]

nobody knows how that guy died just that the response was odd

and lol @ all the comments talking about the rodent and other shit instead of the possibility of an imminent viral apocalypse

[consuming negativity]

Madagascar will shut their borders. Humanity will survive.

[Ele'ill]

I guess since they brought the mortality rate down from 90% to 60% by catching it early it means that from now on the second I feel slightly 'sick' I'm going to just assume its ebola and tell doctors to treat it as such

[exeexe]

The reason why this virus cant be contained is because these backwardish people have been indoctrinated by religious dogmatism. They think family members has to wash the dead body before they can say goodbye to the dead body and so the virus spreads.

If the Africans really wanted to stop this disease they could do so in a matter of days. But nooo traditions are traditions.

[Ele'ill]

btw The US has flown the two Americans with ebola back to the United States. They're here now. Ebola is now on US soil (first time ever apparently a big deal). It is one of the most deadly strains of the virus. Here's a video and news report showing one of the Americans getting out of an ambulance in Atlanta and walking into a treatment center.


I think if I hang out with friends tomorrow we're going to watch 28 days/weeks later and Quarantine



http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/08/02/nr-wsb-american-ebola-patient-arrives-emory.cnn.html

[Ele'ill]

*the other aid worker is apparently doing about as well as the guy getting out of the ambulance on his own in that video

[motion denied]

It apparently has reached Brazil too (two suspects, one in Goiás and another one in Paraná).

[Ele'ill]

I don't think it was Ebola in Brazil, I think there is another hemorrhagic virus that is native to Brazil, I don't see an ebola alert on the CDC website for Brazil

[Red Economist]

Madagascar will shut their borders. Humanity will survive.

You've been playing Pandemic 2. ;)

unfortunately this one is real.

[The Jay]

Ebola scares the shit out of me. Think of what would happen if it got to Mumbai or New York.

[LiaSofia]

The reason why this virus cant be contained is because these backwardish people have been indoctrinated by religious dogmatism. They think family members has to wash the dead body before they can say goodbye to the dead body and so the virus spreads.

If the Africans really wanted to stop this disease they could do so in a matter of days. But nooo traditions are traditions.

This is true but it's not fair to blame them. If you were brought up in that culture you would have exactly the same ideas. Ancient belief systems can't be changed overnight.

[LiaSofia]

Ebola scares the shit out of me. Think of what would happen if it got to Mumbai or New York.

New York might not actually be as bad as you think. One of the reasons why diseases have always affected African countries more than the West is because they are so much poorer. The medical technology is nowhere near as advanced, they don't have the same access to resources, their hospitals are not as well equipped. The high mortality rate is partly due to factors other than the illness. For one thing the infrastructure is less developed and people who are ill in rural areas can't reach medical attention quickly enough - they can't just get in a car. As exeexe pointed out, there is less awareness of the biological basis of diseases. Lots of people still follow folk religions which say that ebola is, for example, a sign of spirit possession. I'm sure New Yorkers would come forward much more readily if they began to show symptoms.

But yes, I don't think it will get that far. At least I hope not because from what I've heard Ebola sounds like one of the worst diseases you can get.

I have a huge amount of respect for the aid workers and doctors who have chosen to stay and help. Never mind what they say about soldiers, these are the real heroes.

[bcbm]

yeah, ebola really isn't that much of a threat to first world nations.

[The Jay]

New York might not actually be as bad as you think. One of the reasons why diseases have always affected African countries more than the West is because they are so much poorer. The medical technology is nowhere near as advanced, they don't have the same access to resources, their hospitals are not as well equipped. The high mortality rate is partly due to factors other than the illness. For one thing the infrastructure is less developed and people who are ill in rural areas can't reach medical attention quickly enough - they can't just get in a car. As exeexe pointed out, there is less awareness of the biological basis of diseases. Lots of people still follow folk religions which say that ebola is, for example, a sign of spirit possession. I'm sure New Yorkers would come forward much more readily if they began to show symptoms.

But yes, I don't think it will get that far. At least I hope not because from what I've heard Ebola sounds like one of the worst diseases you can get.

I have a huge amount of respect for the aid workers and doctors who have chosen to stay and help. Never mind what they say about soldiers, these are the real heroes.


They are heroes but about New York. I think that while it is true that New Yorkers would be more willing to go to the doctor the fact that it takes three weeks for symptoms to show is not good at all.

[Ele'ill]

the fact that it takes three weeks for symptoms to show is not good at all.

it isn't contagious until symptoms show, unlike a lot of other viruses that become contagious before symptoms show, and the ebola virus is pretty serious so afaik folks wouldn't be just chillin out walking around with the sniffles for 3 days before getting really sick, it comes on really hard and is debilitating

[The Jay]

I didn't know that. Could you show me the source please?

[LiaSofia]

Is it diagnosable before symptoms appear? Could someone be treated two weeks before they feel ill?

Sorry, I'm quite ignorant about the Ebola virus (and medicine in general).

[Ele'ill]

Is it diagnosable before symptoms appear? Could someone be treated two weeks before they feel ill?

Sorry, I'm quite ignorant about the Ebola virus (and medicine in general).

The virus overtakes your immune system and replicates itself for up to 21 days before symptoms appear so I would imagine you could get screened for the virus during that time when there are no symptoms, which is what they are doing to some extent at the ebola border check points currently. There is no cure or preventative vaccine for the Ebola Virus the treatment is geared at offsetting the symptoms which include dehydration and malnourishment. The virus also causes your body to not be able to clot (it is a hemorrhagic fever) and can cause internal and external bleeding.

[Ele'ill]

I didn't know that. Could you show me the source please?


http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/ <-- general info

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/t0728-ebola.html


I want to underscore that Ebola poses little risk to the U.S. general population. Transmission is through direct contact of bodily fluids of an infected person or exposure objects like needles that have been contaminated with infected secretions. Individuals who are not symptomatic are not contagious.


Thankfully, the family members had returned to the United States before the doctor got sick and therefore are not at risk for contracting Ebola or spreading it to anyone here. Out of an abundance of caution, the family is currently on a 21 day fever watch. I want to emphasize that Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms appear.


While it’s possible that someone could become infected with the Ebola virus in Africa and then get on a plane to the United States, it’s very unlikely that they would be able to spread the disease to fellow passengers. The Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with the blood, secretions, or other body fluids of ill people, and indirect contact – for example with needles and other things that may be contaminated with these fluids. Most people who become infected with Ebola are those who live with and care for people who have already caught the disease and are showing symptoms.

[cyu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Pianka

Pianka's acceptance speech for the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist Award "endorsed the elimination of 90 percent of the human population" through a disease such as an airborne strain of the Ebola virus. Pianka said the Earth would not survive unless its population was reduced by 90% suggesting that the planet would be "better off" if the human population were reduced and that a mutant strain of Ebola (which has up to a 90% mortality rate) would be the most efficient means.

[Sounds like a volunteer to go first?]

[Skyhilist]

Relevant: http://www.theonion.com/articles/experts-ebola-vaccine-at-least-50-white-people-awa,36580/

[Ele'ill]

"miraculously, both white people are doing fine"

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/04/health/experimental-ebola-serum/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Experimental drug likely saved Ebola patients(CNN) -- Three vials containing an experimental drug stored at subzero temperatures were flown into Liberia last week in a last-ditch effort to save two American missionary workers who had contracted Ebola, according to a source familiar with details of the treatment.
The drug appears to have worked, sources say. Dr. Kent Brantly's and Nancy Writebol's conditions significantly improved after receiving the medication, sources say. Brantly was able to walk into Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after being evacuated to the United States last week, and Writebol is expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday.
On July 22, Brantly (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/02/health/ebola-kent-brantly/index.html) woke up feeling feverish. Fearing the worst, Brantly immediately isolated himself. Writebol (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/02/health/ebola-nancy-writebol/index.html)'s symptoms started three days later. A rapid field blood test confirmed the infection in both of them after they had become ill with fever, vomiting and diarrhea.
It's believed both Brantly and Writebol, who worked with the aid organization Samaritan's Purse, contracted Ebola from another health care worker at their hospital in Liberia, although the official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case investigation has yet to be released.



Knowing his dose was still frozen, Brantly asked if he could have Writebol's now-thawed medication. It was brought to his room and administered through an IV. Within an hour of receiving the medication, Brantly's condition dramatically improved. He began breathing easier; the rash over his trunk faded away. One of his doctors described the events as "miraculous."



Writebol also received a vial of the medication. Her response was not as remarkable, according to sources familiar with the treatment. However, doctors on Sunday administered Writebol a second dose of the medication, which resulted in significant improvement.

[Ele'ill]

And now its time for - the end of the world. There will be no Walking Dead season 5 on tv this autumn, it will be in real life. Best special effects ever, a nice touch.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/05/health/ebola-us-patients/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews


Concerns, testing spread outside Africa
A man hospitalized in New York City is now in strict isolation, waiting to learn whether he has the disease.
The patient became ill after recently traveling to West Africa, New York's Mount Sinai Hospital said.
Doctors were trying to confirm the cause of the man's high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms Monday. Results from an Ebola test are expected Tuesday or Wednesday.
But "odds are this is not Ebola," said Dr. Jeremy Boal, chief medical officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. "It's much more likely that it's a much more common condition."



Doctors in Saudi Arabia are also taking precautions (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/05/health/west-africa-ebola-outbreak/index.html) as they treat a 40-year-old man who recently returned from Sierra Leone.
The man was in critical condition Tuesday with symptoms of a viral hemorrhagic fever, the Saudi Health Ministry said.

[bcbm]

they were both isolated immediately. not much of a risk

[Ele'ill]

they were both isolated immediately. not much of a risk

There was that third guy in New York who went to the hospital after symptoms had presented which would mean he was contagious.

But-


Elsewhere in the United States, a male patient at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York has tested negative for Ebola, the hospital announced Wednesday. The patient, who had a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, is improving and is listed in stable condition, the hospital said in a written statement.
The man became ill after recently traveling to West Africa

[cyu]

Not directly related, but thought this was interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_biological_warfare

during the siege of Kafa the attacking Tartar Forces used the bodies of warriors who had died of plague, as weapons. An outbreak of plague followed and the defending forces retreated, followed by the conquest of the city by the Mongols. It has been speculated that this operation may have been responsible for the advent of the Black Death in Europe.

[Ele'ill]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/health/ebola-patient-zero/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


(CNN) -- The worst outbreak of Ebola, which has killed 961 people and triggered an international public health emergency, may have started with a 2-year-old patient in a village in Guinea.
About eight months ago, the toddler, whom researchers believe may have been Patient Zero, suffered fever, black stool and vomiting. Just four days after showing the painful symptoms, the child died on December 6, 2013, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine. (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1404505#t=article)
Scientists don't know exactly how the toddler contracted the virus. Ebola is spread from animals to humans through infected fluids or tissue, according to the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/).
"In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines," WHO says, though researchers think fruit bats are what they call the virus's "natural host."




Researchers who published the paper this year found a chain of illnesses in the toddler's family.
After the child's death, the mother suffered bleeding symptoms and died on December 13, according to the report. Then, the toddler's 3-year-old sister died on December 29, with symptoms including fever, vomiting and black diarrhea. The illness subsequently affected the toddler's grandmother, who died on January 1, in the family's village of Meliandou in Guéckédou.
The area in southern Guinea is close to the Sierra Leone and Liberia borders.
The illness spread outside their village after several people attended the grandmother's funeral.
Funerals tend to bring people in close contact with the body. Ebola (http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/11/health/ebola-fast-facts/index.html) spreads from person to person through contact with organs and bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, urine and other secretions of infected people. It has no known cure.
READ: 'This is unprecedented' (http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/02/scientist-who-discovered-ebola-this-is-unprecedented/)
Two of the funeral attendees appeared to bring back the virus to their village, and it spread to health care workers and other family members who took care of infected patients.
"A health care worker from Guéckédou with suspected disease, seems to have triggered the spread of the virus to Macenta, Nzérékoré, and Kissidougou in February 2014," stated the report, noting that more Guinea towns were affected.
Clusters of the disease popped up in early 2014 in these areas, with the initial patients suffering fever, vomiting and severe diarrhea, according to the report. Hemorrhaging was less frequent, the report noted.
In early March, the Ministry of Health in Guinea and Doctors Without Borders in Guinea were notified about the disease clusters.
Health investigators arrived that month and began tracing the disease by examining hospital documents and conducting interviews with affected families and villagers.
Ebola has now spread to Liberia (http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/world/liberia-fast-facts/index.html), Sierra Leone and Nigeria, prompting global concerns.
The report about the emergence of Ebola in Guinea was authored by dozens of international doctors and researchers from institutions in France, Germany, Guinea, WHO and Doctors Without Borders

[Red Commissar]

Bumpy bump but as we all know the media is spazzing out about the Ebola case that occurred in Dallas from an individual who had traveled there from Liberia.

Ebola is a deadly disease- indeed for the most part beyond the experimental treatments suggested there is no effective antiviral treatment against it, and I think that has contributed to the fear-mongering over it. This article was written back in August but I think it's pertinent

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/what-would-happen-if-someone-got-ebola-in-america/375928/

Just as a reminder, compared to other viruses Ebola's virulence is actually pretty low compared to say influenza, enteroviruses, or coronaviruses. West Africa was hurt by a poor health infrastructure (civil wars and/or IMF-imposed restructuring will do that) and local doctors sometimes misidentifying symptoms as cholera. As per the usual case media here freak out over it occurring here but it is still far worse in West Africa.

They tracked down individuals that were in contact with the individual and are keeping them under observation. Personally, besides the guy who is in a life-or-death struggle with it in a Dallas hospital, there was a homeless guy who was taken off the streets and also placed into a hospital observation unit since he was taken to the hospital in the same ambulance that took the original patient.

A nurse in Spain was also put into treatment after exposure to Ebola though they aren't clear how it happened since she was presumably wearing proper gear when she entered into a room where a Spanish national, a priest who had been brought back from Sierra Leone and was being treated but died afterwards. The nurse had entered into the room twice to clean- once to remove a diaper and again to remove his belongings after he died (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/07/after-nurse-contracts-ebola-spanish-health-workers-raise-concerns-about-protective-equipment/). Like in the US case they've begun trying to trace her contacts, and reportedly are planning to euthanize her dog because it contracted ebola too. The dog bit is controversial as while it is known the virus can replicate in the dog, whether it can spread from a dog isn't confirmed.

In any event we're probably going to go into full freakout mode by the media. I can feel for this guy's frustration over it, though CNN's been pretty crappy on coverage about it

B2S8oCaBzIQ

I guess it has also been bizarre watching Governor Perry here in Texas highlight the power of the state's science and medicine, considering his own rather backwards position on science.

[Red Commissar]

It is being reported that Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian who was visiting family in the Dallas area and came down with Ebola (and prompted the media storm over ebola), died today. Media spazzed out alot about whether it could spread but the true danger was always with Mr. Duncan, especially since he had not been put into treatment earlier to try and manage symptoms and possibly give the immune system a chance to contain the virus. They tried an antibody transfusion from one of the survivors (the two doctors who'd been brought back) but by that point it was late-though it should be stressed that the efficacy of antibody treatment in this manner isn't entirely known.

[Red Commissar]

LJhWVsx1U8c

According to the video description:

"Once we landed in Punta Cana we were told by the flight attendants that there was a situation and that a passenger may have been in Africa and had Ebola. She was certain it was a hoax but they did not take any chances and had a full hazmat crew board the plane and take the passenger off. It was later confirmed that the passenger was never in Africa and after 2hrs we were finally able to get off the plane"

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

LJhWVsx1U8c

According to the video description:

"Once we landed in Punta Cana we were told by the flight attendants that there was a situation and that a passenger may have been in Africa and had Ebola. She was certain it was a hoax but they did not take any chances and had a full hazmat crew board the plane and take the passenger off. It was later confirmed that the passenger was never in Africa and after 2hrs we were finally able to get off the plane"

Ugh, this is exactly why I've been sucking it up and just driving for the last 2 trips I've been on. I'm not worried about actually catching it, I'm worried about some douchebag getting me trapped on a goddamn plane for hours. Everything about flying is fucking terrible.

[Red Commissar]

A nurse who was among those who had treated Mr. Duncan before he died has come down with Ebola. Much like the Spanish nurse they don't know how it occurred. And again like the Spanish nurse she also had a dog and a lot of attention is focusing on that now after what happened to Excalibur the dog in Spain.

Useful poster about ebola

http://visualscience.ru/en/projects/ebola/poster/

Primers on Viruses

-Viruses are not living, basically inert and do not respond to stimuli or carry out metabolism. Yet when in a cell there is a drive to replicate itself, using a host cell's machinery and energy to do what it could not otherwise do. In this sense it is a parasite.

-Viruses have genomes that come in either DNA or RNA flavors, and single-stranded or double-stranded configurations. There are also negative and positive-sense orientations of the genome. For negative sense RNA viruses, the virus uses a packaged polymerase to make a positive sense RNA that the host cell processes with its ribosome. For a positive sense RNA virus, it can be processed right away by a cell's ribosomes.

Ebola is a negative-sense single stranded RNA virus.

-Mutations are more common in viruses, particularly in RNA ones, due to the fact that polymerases do make mistakes, again especially in RNA polymerases. Moreover, unlike living cells, viruses do not have proof-reading mechanisms to compensate. For a virus, the proof-reading mechanism is whether or not the new genome is viable and is able to infect other cells better than other viruses. In this sense viruses are subjected to selection pressures and evolve like living things do.

-Viruses have genes that when read by a host cell's ribosome have the effect of either deactivating the host genome or destroying it so the virus genome has the advantage in utilizing the cell's resources.

-Ebola's shape is due to the helical shape of its RNA. The protein making up its capsid is form-fitting and gives the worm-like shape.

-Ebola is a virus with an envelope, derived from cells it has previously infected. This helps to mask the virus as a native cell, which is further helped by embedded viral proteins that disrupt the cell's interferon system, a natural antiviral mechanism.

This envelope in part makes it difficult to engineer antibodies against it and is also difficult to determine exactly what survivors' immune system made antibodies against in such a way that targeted the virus itself.

-There is an additional protein, the secreted glycoprotein (sGP) whose purpose is not known. As said above viruses are parasites and thus having large genomes with stretches of non-coding segments (be it junk or regulatory) only increases the energy cost for replication, so for viruses pretty much there have to be product with an advantageous purpose. sGP is not part of the virus but is secreted by the cells it infects. sGP should not be an exception but researchers differ on what it does.

One group says that it's involved in manipulation of tumor necrosis factors and adhesion factors in such a way that makes it easier for ebola to spread by keeping cells alive and help ebola bind to new cells to infect. Another group says it is a soluble compound that can punch holes in membranes (contributing to the hemorrhages) and confuses the immune system, causing antibodies to be made against it and causing macrophages to engulf it, often destroying themselves in the process. The body keeps responding to the protein rather than the virus, which continues to replicate. Either case there is a benefit to ebola to have it.

-Ultimately death from ebola results from the virus replicating at such levels that much of the body is wrecked and starved of resources. The body never managed to mount an effective immune response against it. There are antiviral medications being tested but all amount to antibodies to try and assist the immune system. Antiviral drugs themselves should be distinguished from antibiotics which often directly kill their targets (penicillin disrupting bacterial cell walls, stretomycin destroying bacterial ribosomes, etc)- antiviral drugs instead hinder a virus's activity by targeting say a viral polymerase to slow their replication at such a rate that the immune system can contain it it.

-Ebola has to have a reservoir it circulates inbetween outbreaks. It hasn't been proven what this is but it's believed to be an animal, the popular one being bats.

Again though what should be kept in mind is that ebola is not as easily spread as say influenza or an enterovirus. It is a nasty virus if you get it but with proper management it is possible to contain. tl;dr hard to spread but bad if you got it

[Tim Cornelis]

The number of deaths is now already higher than 4400. It was 4000 just last week. Who knows how high it'll be in 6 months. 50,000?; 100,000?

[Red Commissar]

The number of deaths is now already higher than 4400. It was 4000 just last week. Who knows how high it'll be in 6 months. 50,000?; 100,000?

WHO says at current trends if they are unable to bring it under control in its hotspots they could be seeing up to 10,000 new cases a week. Combine that with data showing this strain having 70% mortality among the infected and that'd be a nasty combination and would get to the point that it would be hard for the already overloaded and undersupplied healthcare workers there to get much feasibly done.

[Skyhilist]

The rightists seem to be getting more hilarious each day on this topic. The other day I was listening to conservative Christian radio for entertainment value and heard someone refer to the US as "an ebola country", explaining that "it's all because of Obama".

[Redistribute the Rep]

The rightists seem to be getting more hilarious each day on this topic. The other day I was listening to conservative Christian radio for entertainment value and heard someone refer to the US as "an ebola country", explaining that "it's all because of Obama".

Actually, it is in part Obamas fault as he (and the GOP mainly) supported CDC budget cuts. It's been alleged that a vaccine would have likely been found by now if not for those cuts. Not that that makes the rightists claims any less absurd.

[Illegalitarian]

I made a pretty good post about the nature of ebola's latest outbreak in the other ebola thread a day or so ago.


It's gonna get worse before it gets better, and with the hugely unsanitary and crowded living situation facing most Liberians, I fear that we could see a large portion of the country dying and soon a collapse of their already weak government, perhaps even a rise to another Taylor-like figure in the confusion and death.

[jullia]

It seems ebola is on the way to be eradicate, at least for this spread.