"I'm president Brak Ubama, and I approve of this virus!"
Posted on 10/27/2014 10:34:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Epidemics like the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa often get started when people make contact with animals carrying infectious diseases, but, paradoxically, a certain amount of human exposure to a virus at its source can actually also prevent the extensive spread of a disease, new research suggests.
Finding a "sweet spot" where there is enough human contact for some people to build immunity to a virus, but in a way that does not cause a disease to spread widely, could be a key to preventing deadly diseases from becoming epidemics, researchers say.
"If we're really worried about emerging infectious diseases, we really need to pay attention to the ecological interfaces between animal reservoirs and the human populations that interact with them," said Timothy Reluga, a mathematical epidemiologist at The Pennsylvania State University.
Infectious diseases such as Ebola hide out within animal populations. Scientists call these populations "reservoirs," and contact between humans and these animals is what allows these diseases to hop across species. Some human communities serve as bridges between the animal hosts and the wider human population.
Within these bridge communities, humans are often exposed to animals that carry viruses, including dogs, pigs, bats and birds. When a virus does move form an animal to a human, "Usually what happens is nothing the virus dies because it is not suited to our bodies," Reluga told Live Science.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Kind of like getting only a little bit pregnant, right?
COEXIST
Diversity...
Well duh.
However it does have the small drawback of many people dying.
So if I get Ebola, I can’t be prosecuted for any crimes?? SWEET!
You only play that game with diseases which are very likely NOT terminal.
Start doing that with something with an extremely high virulence and extremely high (and horrible!) fatality rate, and others are going to cure you with several injections of Pb.
Want to bet your life on it?
They plan the roll out in "Red" States ASAP.
I see our Ebola Czar is getting busy now. I’ve got a “sweet spot” for him right here.
"The researchers found there was a tradeoff the more people exposed to the virus, the greater the risk that it could spread. But more exposure also meant that more immunity built up within the bridge community, which acted as a barrier to the wider human population."
Not mentioned: the reason the "bridge community" builds up immunity is because its non-immune members die off.
(hat tip to: fivecatsandadog!)
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...
“Chickenpox parties” were common when I was a yute.
I was thinking Cowpox versus Smallpox
This isn’t poison ivy or a bee sting....That’s a pretty irresponsible statement. In fact, it’s a crock.
Even more is the vaccine. If a disease has such a high fatality rate, the people tested will be those already infected. This kind of vaccination takes the gamble that someone’s body will get a boost in it’s own fight of the disease. In other words the vaccine will have to be on hand, and rely on finding infections in order to test it.
I'll look for a farm with a Cowbola outbreak.
So something like an immunization may be important in preventing the transmission of disease.
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