Ebola virus

Is anyone else concerned about this? In the film Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman this is the virus which the film centred aroud, except in the film there is an antidote but in reality none exists!!!

Val

 

I spent 10 days in Guinea, West Africa, on a business trip and spent the first and last night in Conakry, the capital, the rest of the time was in a remote location in the jungle but fortunately this disease was not around/known of at the time. I did go home with a mild case of River Blindness caused by contact with parasites by rivers in hot and humid countries but fortunately it was cured after a week's treatment.

 

To be honest, I cannot see any point in worrying about it.

 

I think it must be of some concern, but not to get paranoid about it, with so much freedom of travel such diseases can be spread very quickly.
Discussing it with my friend, who has a bad cold at the moment, we have decided that as we now have to use public transport, lost car about a month ago, we are more exposed to a variety of germs we never were before, but simple hygiene should sort it out, washing hands immediately on return home being the first step.

 

This virus is also a zoonosis which I think makes it more 'uncontrollable" !!

Val

 

Very concerned, it's got a fatality rate of upto 90%

As end of the world viruses, it's up there near the top, Bubonic plague was bad enough and that only went upto 75% fatality.

 

Yes, I am as well, they have admitted that in Africa it is out of control, the top virologist who was treating patients has himself died and another American doctor has been brought back to the US as he is also infected, and these are the people who know all the risks.

Val

 

I was under the impression that if there were survivors of a virus, it was possible to make a vaccine.
But that is probably bunkum I heard years ago.

 

I think this is the theory that if you survive, and some people have survived, that your body produces antibodies.

Val

 

A zoonosis is a disease that can pass between species. Fruit bats can pass Ebola to humans and other primates can be infected and pass the disease to humans. After that it is mainly human to human transmission via contaminated body fluid.
While the mortality rate is up to 90% I believe that this is without treatment. With treatment mortality rates are considerably lower. Treatment mainly consists of rehydration and treatment of symptoms. Isolation and barrier nursing are essential.
So am I worried not particularly, at the moment. As we have better facilities to isolate and barrier nurse infected patients compared to many African countries. More than a few patients with Ebola would be a strain on the NHS and even a 25% mortality rate would be bad enough.
I understand that vaccines are under development but these could be some years off.

 

Unfortunately all they know the risks; without facilities, equipment and support the risks are far higher and their desire to help can lead to chances being taken, i.e. reusing gloves and gowns as no clean ones available.

 

In some ways it actually has similarities to AIDS, i.e. passing from primates to humans, passed on through body fluids, which even includes sweat!! and of course the fact that it has started in Africa again.

Val

 

We all started in Africa too, everything has to start somewhere.

One migration mated with Neandertals on the way to Europe, the other migration mated with a different humanoid on the eastern migration, giving rise to the Asiatic hybrids.

Let's just hope there's a bit of resistance in there somewhere.

I find it ironic after centuries of racism, that the only pure human beings are the ones that stayed behind in Africa.

 

Fortunately AIDS cannot be spread via sweat, otherwise an awful lot more people would have been infected.

Almost certainly some resistance out there or there wouldn't be variability in the mortality rate, as the best we can do is support the body as it fights off the virus.

 

Heard on Radio 4 this morning that they are about to start trials in humans of a vaccine candidate.