Posted on 08/28/2014 6:50:37 PM PDT by alexmark1917
I think we’re gonna wind up with carriers.
bttt
I miss that guy.
It’s never, in recorded history, undergone as many human to human infections. It’s figuring us out. Only the most efficient genomes at infecting humans will be selected with each transmission. As such it will likely mutate massively before it’s all said and done.
I have wondered privately if the reason all the western medicos have pulled all their people from a particular region of Sierra Leone is a suspicion that if not totally airborne it’s very nearly so in the mutation pool in that particular area.
Just a suspicion.
Watch out for the bush meat.
Thanks for posting. Very, very interesting. Health/life BUMP!
I’m glad you like it.
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
It doesn’t usually get into cities.
The development in Africa is causing the virus to move swiftly from the hiding places in the jungles to the cities.
In the past it would hit a town and wipe it out. But because of the “isolation” the fire burned out quickly.
The development of Africa and the death released through Ebola is reminiscent of how smallpox ravaged America just prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
Link?
There you go. Academic admission that this strain is mutating and probably will continue to across its spread.
All infectious organisms mutate... well, I should be more clear. All organisms mutate, every time they reproduce. That process is called "evolution" and is a feature of life. So there is no "admission" here, merely a documentation of what we already know occurs. We expect viruses to mutate--even within a single patient during the course of a single infection, viruses have been documented to mutate.
A recombinant inbred strain (or recombinant inbred line) is an organism with chromosomes that incorporate an essentially permanent set of recombination events between chromosomes inherited from two or more inbred strains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_inbred_strain
I wish to point out that because of the physical characteristics of the Ebola genome, recombination is highly unlikely to occur. For one thing, recombination takes place between homologous double stranded DNA molecules, but Ebola does not use DNA, not even as an intermediate. Influenza can recombine readily because each of its 8 genes are located on a separate piece of RNA genetic material, so influenza viruses just swap pieces with each other. However, Ebola has all of its 7 genes contained on the same strand of genetic material (RNA), so has no separate pieces to swap. [Note: I have said Ebola has 8 genes in previous posts. This was an error; it has 7.] Thus, even if two slightly different Ebola viruses infect a single host, they would not be able to trade genes the way influenza does. Therefore, the only way Ebola can take on new characteristics (such as the ability to spread through aerosols, the one that has everyone worried) is through mutation--a slower process than recombination.
The authors of the Science article were absolutely correct when they said that the longer this outbreak continues, the more likely it is to mutate to a more transmissible form.
Beside medical staff dying from Ebola, we now have investigative journalists!
Five Authors of Ebola Paper Published Today Have Died of Ebola
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/08/28/ebola_paper_authors_died_five_victims_contributed_to_research.html
Actually, the five who died were most likely the healthcare workers who cared for the patients and took the blood samples. They were not journalists. I doubt many journalists are allowed into patient care areas.
The research so far suggests that the virus clears after a period of time. There is some residual virus in bodily fluids up to several weeks after infection, but once it is gone, the patient is no longer contagious.
A “See this” ping.
We need your expertise when the panic starts spiking around here. Thanks for your answers in 14 and 15.
You’re welcome.
The best way to contain this is through accurate and timely information. I do my bit to help.
God bless you.
Why is that an "admission"? It's expected behavior.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.