Ebola vaccine is having ‘major impact’ but worries about Congo outbreak growth

www.sciencemag.org ^ | 12/10/18 | Jon Cohen

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

"..it’s now the second largest Ebola outbreak ever documented, and one of the longest running.
The outbreak has hit mothers and their young children especially hard, because many sought care for malaria at health centers that unknowingly have Ebola cases.
Women have made up 62% of all cases, and 24% were children under age 15.
Only about 50% of new infections are in people previously identified as having been in contact with a case,
which underscores how the violence has interfered with contact tracing."

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

".. after 4 months, there’s a glimmer of hope: An experimental Ebola vaccine appears to be helping the communities it reaches.
More than 40,000 people have received the vaccine, by far the largest use of it since a trial in 2015 showed it worked well.
So far the outbreak has tallied some 500 cases, about half of whom have died, according to the DRC’s Ministry of Public Health.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Infectious Disease ping

Ebola update - Democratic Republic of the Congo

The vaccine, while not yet 'proven' effective, seems to be working to contain the disease,
where it can be administered, devoid of threats from 'civil war'.

[oldasrocks]

Ebola today and something else tomorrow after it mutates. The problem of over crowded areas and a squalid lifestyle insures that other diseases will pop up.

Somehow they need to educate the people to make anything long term work. How long has this been going on? Why has western civilization gone forward and these areas seem trapped in the past? Other warm places in the Orient have evolved beyond these problems even where crowding is worse like in Japan and Taiwan.

[firebrand]

Why has western civilization gone forward and these areas seem trapped in the past?

Colonialism?

[BuffaloJack]

They should just torch the Kitum Cave complex (Kitum Cave and 5 or 6 smaller nearby caves) on the Kenya-Uganda border and get rid of Ebola, Marburg, Bleeding Eye Disease, Reston virus, AIDS, and probably several other viruses.
Kitum Cave is only 700 feet long and the other caves are smaller. The attraction is that the caves hold large crystals of pure viruses; they’re evidently beautiful to look at but super deadly. Why anyone would go into that place is beyond imagination. Just fill it up with gasoline and burn it.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Why has western civilization gone forward and these areas seem trapped in the past?

Colonialism?

Socialism would be a better bet.

Thomas Sowell says that there aren’t many navigable rivers in Africa - waterfalls prevent ships from traveling into the interior. In contrast to, say, the Thames River in England . . .

[hinckley buzzard]

Read Thomas Sowell’s old work, “Race and Culture” for a probably explanation.

[firebrand]

Thanks for the interesting thoughts. Bears some attention.

[firebrand]

The above for you too.

[null and void]

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...

If your child dies because I broke quarantine for a pizza, it was worth it. ~ Kaci Hickox, paraphrased

[Nateman]

Part of the problem is Islam. We take the Golden rule for granted in the west but since it’s lacking in Islam it makes it much harder for people to work together. Those Rivers could have locks constructed to make them navigable but you need an effective rule of law for that, and without the Golden rule it’s not going to happen.

[steve86]

“Kitum Cave”

Thanks for the reference; interesting Wikipedia entry.

[steve86]

The “explorable” caves are described as the “most popular attractions” of Mt. Elgon National Park (in the park’s wiki entry).

[steve86]

I think I’ll pass on the cave adventure also.

[Pelham]

There was a retired CDC scientist who posted here, “Mother Abigail”, who told us where Ebola was going to be found hiding, months before it hit the news.

She believed that we are due for a near-extinction event but that it will be influenza that does it, rather than the hemorraghic diseases like ebola.

[sushiman]

From around 800 BC until now 90+ percent of the world’s scientific advancements occurred in Europe and North America . 90+ percent of the scientists were men . Without white males we would have no modern world . ( Paraphrasing Stefan Molyneux ) . He’s right you know ...

[BuffaloJack]

“I think I’ll pass on the cave adventure also.”

In the 80s, a 15 year old European boy, exploring the cave, broke off a small crystal as a souvenir. The crystal was pure crystallized Ebola virus. The boy died a few days later.