Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Unstoppable: is Ebola mutating with unknown consequences before our eyes?
Deutsche Welle ^ | Sept 9, 2014 | Brigitte Osterath

Posted on 09/10/2014 11:17:48 AM PDT by Covenantor

(Blah, blah, blah about Obam)....

(Snip)

Hundreds of mutations

An international research team has analyzed about a hundred Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone. The patients were diagnosed with Ebola in late May to mid June.

The researchers found more than 300 genetic changes that make the 214 Ebola virus genomes distinct from the viral genomes tied to previous Ebola outbreaks. Moreover, over 50 changes had occurred since the start of the 2014 outbreak, suggesting the virus is in fact mutating.

There are many cases where a change to the genome of an organism has no consequence.

But in this current outbreak of Ebola - with this particular strain - the researchers found a number of genetic mutations had altered proteins in the virus, potentially with disastrous affect.

The team led by Stephen Gire, a scientist with the Sabeti lab at the Broad Institute and Harvard University, wrote about their findings in "Science". They say some of the changes could influence doctors' ability to diagnose Ebola in the field. The data suggest that "continued progression of this epidemic could afford an opportunity for viral adaptation, underscoring the need for rapid containment."

Unknown consequences

But Stephen Gires says they "don't know whether these differences are related to the severity of the current outbreak."

Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit agrees, saying it is impossible to judge by looking at an altered genome whether the changes will translate to alter the biological appearance of a virus.

"Even if a virus mutates rapidly, it doesn't mean something will happen," Schmidt-Chanasit says. Many changes are minor. They are bound to happen when a virus spills over from one host to another, and especially in an epidemic, such as the one we are seeing in western Africa.

The area of research which investigates the relationship between genomes and the "behavior" of a virus in the field is called reverse genetics, and it's in its infancy.

Schmidt-Chanasit says that if investigations regarding this behavior in Ebola were to start now, they would take long time to complete, and would be of little help in the current outbreak....more at link


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ebola; mutate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-53 next last
To: 2ndreconmarine; Fitzcarraldo; Covenantor; Mother Abigail; EBH; Dog Gone; ...
Ping...

A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread

21 posted on 09/10/2014 12:08:15 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Darksheare

I take it seriously, just using dark humor to illustrate that fears of sudden changes in health are not implausible, you could be typing one moment and then without warning


22 posted on 09/10/2014 12:16:48 PM PDT by Peter ODonnell (Pray for the restoration of a strong and free USA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Peter ODonnell

Several of our neighbors are returning from a photo safari in Africa this week. I think we’ll avoid them for a while.


23 posted on 09/10/2014 12:18:08 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Peter ODonnell

Okers.


24 posted on 09/10/2014 12:18:40 PM PDT by Darksheare (Try my coffee! First one's free..... Even robots will kill for it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: dmz

No, “to survive” implies some kind of plan. You couldn’t observe one even if it existed. I’m not going to continue to reply when people don’t understand the principle of teleology and its fallacious application to nature.


25 posted on 09/10/2014 12:20:58 PM PDT by steve86 ( Acerbic by nature, not nurture)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: GraceG
Liberal Academia has been wanting a bvirus to wipe out the “overpopulation” flyover country.

Fixed.

26 posted on 09/10/2014 12:27:58 PM PDT by Disambiguator (#cornedbeef)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: steve86

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


27 posted on 09/10/2014 12:29:20 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

Liberal Academia has been wanting a virus to wipe out the “overpopulation” flyover country.
Fixed.

Then they will ship in illegals to make the food for them....

Liberalism is Neo-Feudalism...

The Royalaty HATED THE MERCHANT CLASS, they didn’t mind the SERF because they CONTROLLED THEM!

The War on the Merchant/Middle class is an ongoing war STARTED by the ELITES!


28 posted on 09/10/2014 12:54:19 PM PDT by GraceG (No, My Initials are not A.B.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: dmz; steve86

Viruses mutate, for whatever reason.

Some of those mutants have a better chance of surviving attacks by immune systems, or whatever else is out to kill them.

So, while it may appear to us that viruses mutate to survive, that’s only because we’re not paying attention to what happens to the individual viruses. No virus actually chooses to mutate as a survival strategy.

steve86 has it right.


29 posted on 09/10/2014 1:42:52 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Don’t some viruses kind of peter out if they mutate enough?


30 posted on 09/10/2014 1:54:53 PM PDT by Califreak (Hope and Che'nge is killing U.S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

“No virus actually chooses to mutate as a survival strategy.”

Are you sure? There is no scientific evidence supporting this statement, only supposition. The question becomes, does a virus have life energy of its own? My guess is the answer is Yes.


31 posted on 09/10/2014 2:25:12 PM PDT by tired&retired
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Califreak

That’s an interesting thought — I really can’t say.

When I think about it, I can’t even say for certain that viruses don’t plan to mutate, as a survival strategy. For all I know viruses have the capacity to organize themselves into some sort of hive mind, which has the capacity for creating strategies. Maybe the Obama White House and Pentagon used such a virus hive mind to create its ISIS strategy. Or, maybe I’ve watched one too many syfi flick.


32 posted on 09/10/2014 2:27:16 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: steve86

No, “to survive” implies some kind of plan. [snip] I’m not going to continue to reply when people don’t understand the principle of teleology and its fallacious application to nature.

<><><><

If my reading of the statement had been the same as yours, I would completely agree.

But I didn’t read it the same way as you did; at the level of a virus, I don’t see ‘to survive’ implying a plan, just an observable fact that they mutate AND some survive. But I’m just a student of philosophy (well, I was 30 some years ago), so you science guys typically eat my lunch.

As for your not continuing to reply, do you think anyone will notice?


33 posted on 09/10/2014 2:29:46 PM PDT by dmz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: hal ogen

LOL. Gives you good reason to not suffer threw their vacation photos.


34 posted on 09/10/2014 2:32:53 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Petering out-probably just wishful thinking...


35 posted on 09/10/2014 2:49:44 PM PDT by Califreak (Hope and Che'nge is killing U.S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: tired&retired
The question becomes, does a virus have life energy of its own? My guess is the answer is Yes.

Viruses are not considered to be alive. It makes talking about them rather difficult because the language doesn't really cover their status.

36 posted on 09/10/2014 4:34:07 PM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
When I think about it, I can’t even say for certain that viruses don’t plan to mutate, as a survival strategy. For all I know viruses have the capacity to organize themselves into some sort of hive mind, which has the capacity for creating strategies.

Viruses are not alive, and are incapable of having any kind of strategy. However, the factors that enable them to propagate can almost make them seem to think. The reality is that there are many viruses that reach dead ends and do not propagate, but we never see those. We only see the mutants that do propagate. So the illusion is that they analyze intelligently and adapt themselves to their environment.

37 posted on 09/10/2014 4:39:12 PM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: exDemMom

Viruses are considered by some to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection.

However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life.

Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as “organisms at the edge of life”.


38 posted on 09/10/2014 4:43:58 PM PDT by tired&retired
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: tired&retired

In my work I feel viruses in the field around the human body. They feel like a cloud that has an energy of its own. Thus they feel to me as if they have a life energy and function as parasites.

They are sometimes difficult to differentiate from an attached earthbound spirit or ghost around a person that also has a life energy of its own but no physical structure at our visible level.


39 posted on 09/10/2014 4:48:36 PM PDT by tired&retired
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: exDemMom

You made my original point better than I did. Then, I got off the rails.


40 posted on 09/10/2014 5:41:18 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-53 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson