Posted on 05/31/2005 12:09:14 PM PDT by Judith Anne
This is the Marburg Surveillance Project Thread II.
This thread, as the first one was, will be used for all of the latest Marburg Outbreak News and comments. This is the place to post all comments about the Marburg outbreak, all articles and links to articles about the Marburg outbreak.
ping to post # 359...
5.9 Nothing much, and I doubt any humans even felt it.
June 12, 2005
Scientists fearing the resurgence of mosquito-related infections have expressed fears the parasite may have the potential to spread haemorrhagic diseases currently plaguing some African countries.
Although there are no direct links between mosquito bites and the spread of ebola or its distant cousin, the marburg researchers say some species are known to spread haemorrhagic diseases such as Yellow Fever.
"There is a breed of mosquito which carries highly infectious diseases and it has the potential to transmit them to human beings when they live close to forests," said Prof Benson Estambale, director of the Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (Unitid) at the University of Nairobi.
The male mosquito known as aedes transmits the dreaded Yellow Fever.
Environmental changes have made it easier for these parasites to survive and they are on the increase. "The dirty environment we live in has partly enhanced the growth of viral infections. The germs causing haemorrhagic diseases and high fevers are maintained by monkeys and the mosquitoes which bite these monkeys might spread them to human beings," explained Estambale.
The University of Nairobi plans to build an ultra-modern disease research laboratory to boost Kenya’s preparedness to handle life-threatening infections spread by primates.
Unitid has secured funding from the Canadian government and the University of Manitoba to build the laboratory which is expected to make the institute a reference point for haemorrhagic diseases.
Estambale said the new laboratory whose construction is expected to consume Sh200 million will be used to train people in "barrier nursing", a move aimed at detecting serious diseases and curbing their spread.
"The world has become very small and we must be prepared. Whenever a disease breaks out in the tropical areas of Africa, it should not be considered out of the reach of our borders because people are crossing borders every day," cautioned Estambale.
Kenya, the scientists said, is not well equipped to handle a national crisis if the killer diseases were to penetrate its borders.
"We plan to train a team of doctors and nurses to be based in the rural areas where these diseases can occur anytime," explained Estambale. He added: "We will draw up a comprehensive curriculum to train core teams to predict these diseases. A team of scientists based at the Kenyatta National Hospital will also assist us."
Researchers say the return of ebola and marburg is due to a breakdown in national health systems in Africa. The environment is dirtier and temperatures have risen. Meanwhile, people are moving towards forests where they get bitten by mosquitoes which have come into contact with primates.
According to Estambale, changes in the weather patterns in Africa have acted as catalysts for increased mosquito breeding.
The University of Nairobi laboratory will be the first such facility in Africa.
The laboratory, to be used to train people from Eastern and Central Africa where rain forests and the grasslands act as breeding grounds for mosquitoes, is expected to be completed within two years.
"Previously, samples taken from patients with haemorrhagic fevers were sent to Europe, America or South Africa for testing. Now we handle them right here," the professor said.
Thanks for the info.
That is one of the extinction theories as to why large mammals died out when humans arrive. I like it much better than the theory that we hunted them to extinction. The human population was never large enough in ancient times to do that. Contageous disease or enviromental change are my choices.
Thanks for the ping. I love a little melted Marburg on my patty melt.
So far, I have found no mammals specifically listed which did not either succumb to filoviruses or did not show antibody production. There may be some aspect of mamallian RNA which is more susceptible to the virus than say, avian RNA, or reptile RNA, which is why I am leaning toward birds (even more than migrating bats) as the long distance carriers.
The RNA part is going a bit too far out of my area of expertise, (I am a geologist), and if we have a biochemist or someone more knowledgeable in that area, maybe they could shed some light on that aspect.
I would expect significant differences, at least enough to keep the reptiles and amphibians from being affected.
As birds are supposed to be more closely related to the reptiles than the mammals, (iirc, from vertebrate paleo), they may share certain characteristics which would render them immune to the filoviruses' effects, and enable them to carry the disease without ill effect, or for long enough to permit the opportunistic spread to mamallian populations, probably via mosquito, much as in the case of West Nile Virus.*
If the scenario is correct, the outbreaks would be widespread (at least over the migration range), weather dependant (to enable large enough mosquito populations to increase the likelyhood of mamallian infection, and possibly seasonal.
(*How's that for a run-on sentence? My English professor would have had me summarily shot for that one!)
If the earthquakes' foci increase in depth toward the SW, probably the latter.
Thanks!
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-06/03/content_3040832.htm
Six deaths in five days...100+ people infected. Mysterious disease in Senegal.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506090127.html
Ebola coming under control...interesting note at the end says the UN may not agree...
Senegal's Department of Public Health decided Thursday to dispatch an emergency expert team to the northern region of Podor to conduct investigations into an epidemic disease which caused six deaths in five days and check the spread of the disease.
According to a statement released by the department on Thursday, a mysterious disease broke out last Saturday in the Podor region, where about 100 people have been infected and at lease six died. (8 days)
All patients suffering from the disease have the symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, bellyache and a high fever, which are very similar to those of cholera, but initial laboratory tests found in the patients' excrement no existence of comma bacillus, the bacterium which causes cholera, said the statement.
Therefore, it is surmised that this is a kind of more acute and dangerous disease of the digestive system caused by other bacteria.
At present, the patients' excrement has been sent to a special laboratory in Dakar for further study in an effort to find out the cause of the disease.
Right after the eruption of the disease last Saturday, the government of Podor had sent medical workers to disinfect the affected region and take to hospital people with symptoms to keep the disease from spreading. They also urged local residents to pay more attention to public and personal sanitation.
Local doctors hold that the polluted water in local rivers and the rain might be the major causes of the disease.
I hope I am wrong in my speculations, but are there any coastal birds migrating North this time of year?
Abundant rainfall commonly enhances mosquito habitat...and this sounds like a bug worth watching, imho.
Thanks for the link!
"Marburg is under control, in as much as things are organised, but before we declare victory we have to have this period of grace," said Mr Pirlot
With a case count of 417, and with 357 deaths, there are at least nearly 60 more people who will die of Marburg Angola in the next 10 days. If Marburg Angola's fatality rate is down to 90 percent, which I do NOT believe, that means 54 more deaths.
If those deaths are not reflected in the statistics, then someone is lying.
ping to 371.
I read that article, Joe, and as I recall, cholera is one of the diseases that Marburg may be mistaken for...not all cases of Marburg have the extreme hemorrhaging, and cholera can sometimes have hemorrhaging, if I recall correctly.
Sure hope this isn't Marburg...
I hope for their sake it is not Marburg.
Three years ago we got a 5 year old Sckipperkee dog from a rescue lady in Ft. Lauderdale. Within hours of entering our home, it had bloody diaharea all over the house. When we took him to our local vet, and the vet said in his 35 years he had never seen a case like this. Apparently the dog had the bacteria that causes African sleeping sickness (trypanosoma, I think). This dog has never seen Africa. When I looked on the Internet at the time, there were some studies looking at mosquitoes, ticks and fleas as vectors here in Florida because more and more of the bacteria were being detected, and we don't have the traditional vector (tsetse fly).
So to me the mosquito seems very possible.
That's a fascinating story...and since viruses are much smaller than bacteria, I tend to share your concerns.
It's not just the arc to the east.
I see features to the west that perfectly match a full circle, with the eastern arc being prominent the subtle western extent seems to close the circle.
It's probably just the peceptual penalty we pay for being able to detect patterns - even when they aren't really there!
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