Ebola killing large number of Gorillas and Chimpanzees in Gabon - Villagers told to stay calm

Reuters ^ | 12-12-01 | Antoine Lawson

[Neuromancer]

Please remember that these primates are victims of the Virus and not the vector.

[lavaroise]

Ebola is probably transmited through spores like anthrax. Pretty scary.

[Neuromancer]

Bat are the #1 suspect - as of this time.

[Neuromancer]

bat=bats

[JRandomFreeper]

If bats are the vector, what is the mode? Contact with guano?

/john

[Neuromancer]

Unknown John - we can't even prove bats are the vector. It is just a few facts that seem to point that way.

Some of the best minds in Virology are trying to sove this question, and still no real answer.

The Stanford Thesis

[RightWhale]

The saving grace is that if the outbreak is hot enough it burns itself out quickly.

[realpatriot71]

Ebola is probably transmited through spores like anthrax. Pretty scary

I'm sorry, but this is just a completely UNTRUE statement. Ebola is a virus not a bacteria.

[realpatriot71]

Bats have NEVER been found to be serologically positive for the Virus. Most experts have ruled them out.

[Neuromancer]

Amen.

Because Ebola is so hot - it burns itself out in these remote regions.

Our fear, of course, is that one of the ill will make their way into a large urban hospital. If the victim is unaware of their condition - many bad things can happen before the outbreak can be contained.

[realpatriot71]

Ebola, while VERY deadly, is not as easy to catch as you think. The biggest reason for tranmission in Africa is nosocomial infections (those happening in the hospital from the re-use of needles), from people all sharing the same drinking supply, or unprotected sex. Ebola is no smallpox.

[JRandomFreeper]

Interesting thesis. I wonder where/what the resevoir is. Since it is so quickly lethal, I understand that outbreaks are self-limiting (without human intervention). Hmmmm.

I have fears of a virus adapting its vectoring to modern human technology.

/john

[AppyPappy]

I thought you could catch it from dead bodies.

[realpatriot71]

Many tribes over in Africa wash the dead for burial as well.

[realpatriot71]

I should say, that after an amount of time the dead body is no longer infectious. It's not like the body is contagious forever.

[Neuromancer]

What we find in the original outbreak is that the Virus is transmitted to family members from contact with the corpse.

Later in the course of the outbreak nosocomial (a localized or systemic condition that results from adverse reaction to the presence of an infectious agent(s) or its toxin(s) that was not present or incubating at the time of admission to the hospital) may become a factor.

[Neuromancer]

MODE OF TRANSMISSION:

By direct contact with infected blood, secretions, organs or semen, or by the aerosol route; contaminated syringes and needles facilitated virus transmission noscomially in outbreak

INCUBATION PERIOD:

2-21 days

COMMUNICABILITY:

Communicable as long as blood and secretions contain virus (isolated 61 days after onset of illness); secondary infections occurred in 5% of case contacts in Zaire and 10-15% in Sudan

[Neuromancer]

Virus is usually recovered from acute-phase sera and has also been found in throat washes, urine, soft tissue effusates, semen and anterior eye fluid, even when the specimens were obtained late in convalescence. It has also been regularly isolated from autoptic material, such as spleen, lymph nodes, liver and kidney but rarely from brain or other nervous tissues.

[realpatriot71]

I am aware of all this ad nauseum

Thanks for taking the trouble though :-)

[bribriagain]

vector=internet (or a whopper)