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ORIGINAL: Arturas

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

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ORIGINAL: PeonForHer

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The irony is that if we were able to reduce the virulence of Ebola and allow people to survive it with drugs, the virulence would increase, but unless it could be transmitted by an airborne vector rather than by bodily fluids, it's still unlikely to become an epidemic, let alone a pandemic.

The biggest fear about Ebola is exactly that it could mutate to become transmittable by air, apparently.

Again, Ebola simply doesn't have the capacity to become transmitted in water droplets. To get that capability it would need to get some additional genes from somewhere. That would make it larger which would slow its reproduction rate and also make it more easily detected by our bodies immune system.

Ebola is a very nasty disease and there are real reasons to be concerned but basing those concerns on various movies about global pandemics wiping out humanity are not those reasons.

It has spread to a fifth country. Likely due to over kissing and handling dead primates on international flights. The incubation period is 2 to 22 days and the expansion is exponential now that it is loose. The time bombs should explode shortly but you need not panic because everything is under control.

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ORIGINAL: freedomdwarf1

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ORIGINAL: KYsissy

It's not like viruses can mutate rapidly. . . . .

It will more than likely be just fine, but if it isn't, things could get bad real fast.

Really??

Try telling that to the 'Flu virus that mutates several times a year.
That's why any 'Flu vaccination can only boost against last year's variety.

Admittedly, not every virus is quite that bad, but we don't know an awful lot about Ebola either.
Who is to say that it can't mutate and re-attack just like the various Bird 'Flu viruses did?

We won't know until it happens.


ETA: Ebola's 90% kill rate ain't to be sniffed at - that's some serious deaths to consider!

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Um, I believe KYs was employing deliberate irony.

Slow down a tad, Keyboard Warrior.

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ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr


Someone who, most would think, knows what they're talking about seems to think it's inevitable:

CDC Chief Warns







Screen captures still RULE! Ya feel me?

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ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

Don't be a douchebag, Arturas.

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The number of dead and sickened by Ebola may 'vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak,' the World Health Organization said.

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ORIGINAL: mnottertail

So they have dead primate orgies on Senegal Air or what?

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ORIGINAL: Zonie63

Highlander was good, but the film that comes to my mind with all of this is Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman and Donald Sutherland. Kind of a so-so flick overall, but it had its moments.

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ORIGINAL: Lucylastic

In 2012, there were about 207 million malaria cases (with an uncertainty range of 135 million to 287 million) and an estimated 627 000 malaria deaths
http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/

612 deaths were attributable to RMSF in the United States during 1983--1998
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5319a1.htm

Table: Chronology of previous Ebola virus disease outbreaks
2014----so far nearly 900
Year Country Ebolavirus species Cases Deaths Case fatality
2012 Democratic Republic of Congo Bundibugyo 57 29 51%
2012 Uganda Sudan 7 4 57%
2012 Uganda Sudan 24 17 71%
2011 Uganda Sudan 1 1 100%
2008 Democratic Republic of Congo Zaire 32 14 44%
2007 Uganda Bundibugyo 149 37 25%
2007 Democratic Republic of Congo Zaire 264 187 71%
2005 Congo Zaire 12 10 83%
2004 Sudan Sudan 17 7 41%
2003 (Nov-Dec) Congo Zaire 35 29 83%
2003 (Jan-Apr) Congo Zaire 143 128 90%
2001-2002 Congo Zaire 59 44 75%
2001-2002 Gabon Zaire 65 53 82%
2000 Uganda Sudan 425 224 53%
1996 South Africa (ex-Gabon) Zaire 1 1 100%
1996 (Jul-Dec) Gabon Zaire 60 45 75%
1996 (Jan-Apr) Gabon Zaire 31 21 68%
1995 Democratic Republic of Congo Zaire 315 254 81%
1994 Cote d'Ivoire Taï Forest 1 0 0%
1994 Gabon Zaire 52 31 60%
1979 Sudan Sudan 34 22 65%
1977 Democratic Republic of Congo Zaire 1 1 100%
1976 Sudan Sudan 284 151 53%
1976 Democratic Republic of Congo

a total of 1561 deaths since 1976 -2012(WHO http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/)

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ORIGINAL: Aylee
Lucy, the fear of mutation has increased because of the increased number of those contracting Ebola. When it was just a few a year, no big worries. Having a whole bunch all at once makes it (easier? more likely?) on the virus to mutate.

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

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ORIGINAL: Aylee
Lucy, the fear of mutation has increased because of the increased number of those contracting Ebola. When it was just a few a year, no big worries. Having a whole bunch all at once makes it (easier? more likely?) on the virus to mutate.

It does but not by all that much.

Ebola is a very simple virus so almost any mutation makes it less effective in some way. It would take an awful lot of mutating, most of which would result in viruses that were very unfit before any Ebola strain could mutate into something substantially more dangerous than Ebola is now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_landscape

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

Ebola isn't easy to catch. It's only spread by bodily fluid exchange. you guys can relax.

and avoid any fruit bats if you see any.