Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
Posted on 11/16/2012 5:15:39 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Ebola virus can spread through the air from pigs to macaques, a new study suggests.
Transmission of the virus — which causes an often fatal hemorrhagic fever in people and primates — was thought to require direct contact with body fluids from an infected animal or person. But in the new study, published online November 15 in Scientific Reports, piglets infected with Ebola passed the virus to macaques housed in the same room even though the animals never touched.
“The evidence that the virus got from a pig to a monkey through a respiratory route is good,” says Glenn Marsh, a molecular virologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, Australia. Marsh was not involved in the new study but has investigated Ebola and other viruses in pigs.
Although pigs transmitted Ebola in the laboratory, there is still no evidence that anyone has been sickened from contact with infected pigs in Africa, where the virus occurs naturally, or that the virus passes through the air under normal conditions, says study coauthor Gary Kobinger, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. “It’s definitely not an efficient route of transmission.”
Only 13 of the more than 2,200 human cases of Ebola documented since the virus was discovered in 1976 cannot be traced to direct contact with an infected person, animal or body fluid, he notes. If Ebola were able to spread easily through the air, many more cases might result.
The new study raises questions about whether humans can also transmit Ebola by respiratory routes, says Pierre Formenty, of the World Health Organization’s Control of Epidemic Diseases Unit. That is something that will have to be investigated in future outbreaks, he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
PING!
“... a new study suggests.”
More great science. In other news, my study suggests there might be aliens. There is no proof, but it’s possible.
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
Reston was airborne, but didn’t infect humans.
Only a question of time.
Oh SH*T *PING*.
This is typical scientific language, and the fact that the article uses this kind of language shows that its author took care to communicate the actual science.
Scientists, when talking about their results, especially new results that have not been corroborated by other studies, are very careful to acknowledge that their interpretation of the data might be incorrect, or that they might have overlooked something which would change their conclusions.
When you see scientists proclaiming that everything they say is absolute truth and that there is no other explanation, then it is time to be suspicious. They're probably pushing an agenda. (Think: global warming. No uncertainty is ever expressed by those promoting the notion of anthropogenic global warming.)
Ah, you scooped me! If Ebola Reston were capable of infecting humans, there would have been a HUGE problem. It only killed monkeys.
WHO hopes so and so does the UN. Conrol over the populace that is in pandemic mode is a christmas gift for them
Cherry on the cake.
Actually might solve some of the current problems...
I’m glad I don’t work with pigs. Scary enough finding out that cats and ferrets carry and get infected with the influenza virus.
Okay. I think I had a little too much coffee and studying today.
Oh SH*T *PING*.
Not to criticize Tom Clancy (whose writing I adore) but a better title in this context would be: Rainbow Sicks...
Thanks for the ping.
It's Always Something. (IAS)
While I was reading this, I thought of the movie Outbreak, with Dustin Hoffman and Cuba Gooding Jr.
I wonder who would be the official to cover that up.
(sleep tight!)
Well, at least the Ebola genome is all contained within a single strand of RNA. That makes it a little less likely to shuffle genes in the manner of influenza.
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.