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I don’t know why, but the timing of this conveniently miraculous story smells funny to me.
I have believed this for quite a while.
You know, that got me to thinking they need to run an experiment to prove that hypothesis. They should expose everyone in D.C. to Ebola and then see how many survive based on natural immunity alone.
My guess would be however that during initial infection of a person who is immune that they may be carriers of disease who are capable of passing it on to someone who is not immune.
Since this is the case with dogs then why would it be different for people.
I could believe 7.1%.
There have been studies of the Bubonic plague of 1666 that show there were also some people who never contracted the plague despite being in direct contact with plague victims. Tracing their descendents it was found they had a unique genetic marker that apparently gave them immunity. That said I would not want to find out if I had a similar immunity to Ebola.
Immune systems can be quite different in different people. My sibling catches flu and all kinds of other stuff, I never catch any of it. Well, I did have a bad case of flu one time, the one year I got a flu shot.
OTOH, my system overreacts to most prescription drugs. All “doses” are overdoses for me. My dentist knows that 1/4 amount of anesthetic is all it takes, even for a root canal.
Biogenetic testing is beginning to be available. You can have your blood tested to determine which medications are good and bad for your system.
In the case of Ebola, some sort of biogenetic testing will surely provide good answers to apparent immunity. OTOH, ebola is a very enterprising virus, ready and able to mutate when threatened. Can we outwit it?
Not develop symptoms does not equate to ‘not carrying virus’.
This is not news or new. No one virus can wipe out mankind due to genetic variation.
Maybe the cure can be found in Keith Richards’ blood.
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...
Well there’s always somebody out there with the right genetic combination to be immune from Item X. But I wouldn’t go licking ebola patients to find out if you’re one of the lucky 25.
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Thank you. I thought this might be so.
I call BS on the numbers.
That's just the *confirmed* cases, the numbers given to help prevent panic over the actual numbers.
Considering the quality of healthcare in Africa and the numbers of people being turned away from hospitals, or just never taken there in the first place, I think the numbers are FAR higher.
It’s been scientifically documented for a long time that a large number of Africans have anti-Ebola antibodies in their blood, indicative of non-symptomatic exposure.
Could I be immune to Ebola? I’m not going to test the waters to find out.