Thank you for the ping. I still recall the Angola Marburg outbreak during which 400+ died, officially, and likely many more unofficially. It seemed rather remote, until we realized that there was a daily flight direct to Houston from one of the cities that had active cases. Also in that instance, there were dreadful conflicts between UN health officials, and Doctors Without Borders as they attempted to treat the afflicted.
The incredible problems created by the “space suits” worn by the UN officials, the cultural violation of burial customs and the lack of care for the victims all combined to paint the picture of a near-apocalyptic event.
I recall that the outbreak began with pediatric cases, and the death of a woman pediatrician who finally succeeded in alerting authorities, shortly before she herself died of Marburg.
At the end, I seem to recall that Canada had come up with a potential vaccine, but did not hear what became of that vaccine...
Of all the bugs lurking in Africa, the filoviruses are most worrisome to me...
The vaccines are still in testing, though they show promise. From Wikipedia:
A few research groups are working on drugs and vaccines to fight the virus. In 1998, a group at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) published the first peer reviewed article detailing the development of the first experimental Marburg virus vaccine demonstrated to completely protect animals from lethal Marburg virus infection[6] Following, in 2002, Genphar, a company doing research for the United States Army’s biodefense program, announced that an experimental vaccine protected animals from a high dose of Marburg virus. The tests were conducted by the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). According to the company, all animals in the control group died within days whereas all animals that received the regular dosage of the vaccine were fully protected. The company has moved on to non-human primate trials.[citation needed] Late in 2003, the US government awarded the company a contract worth $8.4 million for what was described as “a multivalent Ebola, Marburg filovirus vaccine program”.[citation needed]
In June 2005 scientists at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory announced that they had also developed vaccines for both Marburg and Ebola that showed significant promise in primate testing. Studies on mice also suggested that the vaccine might be an effective treatment for the disease if it is administered shortly after a patient is infected. To make the vaccines the scientists fused a surface protein from the viruses they hope to protect against onto an animal virus - vesicular stomatitis - which is thought to be of no threat to humans.[7] In the rhesus macaque monkey model of the disease, the vaccine is effective even when given after infection with the virus.[8]
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As for the viruses... I’m not so sure that we wouldn’t be better served by relocating all the animals and people we care about and then nuking tropical Africa into glass as a health precaution.
I wonder if all the zillions of AIDS cases (which, from what I’ve read, are questionable due to the way the Africans diagnose them) are actually these viruses.
They aren’t getting billions from us and attention from celebrities if they don’t call everything they catch AIDS.