Ebola's Deadly Jump From Animal to Animal

Discovery.com ^ | Jul 30, 2014 07:00 AM ET | Jennifer Viegas

[Qiviut]

Ebola may be present in more animals than previously thought, according to researchers studying the deadly virus, which has already been detected in chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, antelopes, porcupines, rodents, dogs, pigs and humans.

Humans and other primates appear to be particularly susceptible to at least certain strains of the virus. During the present outbreak ravaging Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola has killed 670 people so far and infected more than 1,000.

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Blaming humans, bats, chimps or birds for the illness does not then take into account its full possible scope within the ecosystem. That, the present unprecedented epidemic, the potential for bioterrorism, and the fact that no vaccine is available for clinical use have scientists around the world paying greater attention to Ebola and to the animals it can infect.

[Qiviut]

Some interesting detail about Ebola, including how it might have evolved

[Secret Agent Man]

great, they are laying groundwork for the ability to quarantine and go after you if you have certain animals on your land or around you.

you have to leave your house or be quarantined. you have bats (or whatever animal du jour) and they’re a vector. dhs is here to remove you to a “safe place”.

[donozark]

Obie’s best friend and terrorist, Billy Ayers is smiling.

[SAJ]

While the ebola virus (and its substrains) is indeed quite deadly, always recall the most trenchant and accurate observation ever made about politics and politicians:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."-- H.L. Mencken

By some remarkable coincidence, a bit later in this article from 1918, he cites as an example "infectious scares", not -- if you please! -- referring to the infamous Spanish "Flu" of the era, but rather to diphtheria.

When health "experts" demonstrate that ebola does NOT kill people faster than its incubation period, THEN, and only them, might we have a problem. Until such time, articles such as this are simply claptrap and illustrate Mencken's point perfectly.

[House Atreides]

Well, let’s hope it doesn’t make a jump to chickens. In that host it could do some gene exchanges with other viruses and possibly become airborne transmittable.

[roadcat]

… which has already been detected in chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, antelopes, porcupines, rodents, dogs, pigs and humans.

Whew, looks like I'm safe. I only have squirrels, raccoons, cats, opossums and skunks traversing my back yard and deck.

[GBA]

you have to leave your house or be quarantined. you have bats (or whatever animal du jour) and they’re a vector. dhs is here to remove you to a “safe place”.

I wish I could laugh that off as paranoia. Maybe back in the 90s I'd laugh, but now?

Which reminds me, as scary as this and its potential worse case impact worldwide could be, has anyone checked to see if it's being spread by Horseman?

[Travis McGee]

What if Ebola jumps to the USA, and jumps to our feral pigs via escaping domesticated pigs? There are indications that Eboloa might be spread by mosquitoes from “reservoir to reservoir” of host species. Then we’d have a harbor population of Ebola in the wild, similar to rodents carrying the plague. Makes it very hard to eradicate.

[Travis McGee]

[DannyTN]

Man, it’s a threat to dogs and bacon. This is serious!