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Killer Virus 'From Paramyxoviridae Family'

Posted by timothy on from the bad-family dept.

texchanchan writes "Yahoo story about the microbe that's been killing world travelers being isolated and identified as a 'paramyxoviridae' virus (not a bacterium. Simple page on the difference.) Here are pictures of similar viruses (Rinderpest, ugh! sounds as bad as anthrax) from the Big Picture Book of Viruses."

5 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm... by smoondog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, I think that, assuming most of the reports are true, the world may be able to breathe a collective (but cautious) sigh of relief. (knock on wood) It isn't influenza. This is good. It doesn't spread through the air/casual contact. This, too, is good. I know for a fact (through collaborators) that the CDC is really, really focused on this right now. Finally, WHO is suggesting that this won't be a global pandemic. This is very good. It also seems that, according to the news, a few people are recovering. I'm really, really impressed at how focused the international health community can be, even when separated by political boundaries and vast geographical boundaries. Lets hope they keep up the pressure to keep this contained.

    Could you imagine an influenza strain that spreads through the air and causes chronic lung damage (and lots of deaths)? That would be devastating.

    Anyway, here is the ultimate of Karma whoring: The Google News link for the story

    -Sean

    1. Re:Hmm... by istartedi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Could you imagine an influenza strain that spreads through the air and causes chronic lung damage (and lots of deaths)? That would be devastating.

      That doesn't scare me as much as the possibility of an airborne virus with long latency and high mortality. Imagine what it would be like if AIDS were airborne. Bugs like Ebola aren't actually that frightening on a global scale because as soon a a handful of people get it they immediately quarantine everybody who has contact. Ebola seldom spreads beyond the African villages where it breeds simply because it's so virulent. No, the really devestating viruses are the ones that bide their time.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    2. Re:Hmm... by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "You know, I'm really really unimpressed seeing that no one cared for months until a few americans started getting sick."

      Well, don't mistake media interest for total interest, otherwise you won't get your virus warnings until close to the trigger date, and you'll believe the entire output of CNN.

      "The international health community still only gives a **** if it affects the people giving them the most money."

      Which explains the massive effort into killing smallpox and polio back in the day when it was assumed that the military was on the same side as the people doing the curing. You seem to jumbling up the WHO with Biotech and pharmecutical companies in a delightfully blanket fashion there. Unavoidably there is going to be a higher concentration on the nations with the highest GDP, but this is along the lines of complaining that it's unfair that you get some of the best Indian food in the UK.*

      OD
      * I'm biased. Mines a Pasanda.

      --
      Oddly Draconis
      Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
    3. Re:Hmm... by EverLurking · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Yup, likey another case of the Media generating mass hysteria to sell air-time. But SARS does seem a bit deadlier than your average Pneumonia upon superficial analysis.

      The total cases of SARS as reported by the World Health Organization is 219 cases with 4 deaths. Doing some rather inexact extrapolation that works out to about 1800 deaths per 100,000. Bear in mind, these numbers have very small and inexact "n" values in the denominator and probably can't be directly extrapolated to this high an incidence (per 100,000).

      Who knows how many people had milder forms of this viral infection and didn't need to seek medical attention or recovered on their own, or how many others were now calssified as having SARS. I'm afraid that's the problem with these statistics: It's hard to derive a truly accurate denominator.

      To give you some perspective, the plain old pneumonia/influenzena deaths as tallied up by the CDC worked out to about 10-12 per 100,000.

      We'll see as the number of SARS cases continue to come in what a more accurate Mortality rate works out to being. I really doubt that this condition is 180 times more deadly than your typical pneumonia. But the media is sure treating it like that in it's daily search for sensationalism.

      DaveC

      --
      There are no stupid questions...just stupid people.
  2. Re:No worries by dmadole · · Score: 3, Insightful

    would have to assume you're joking. RNA virili and bacteria are far more prone to mutations in the genes. Why hasn't AIDS been cured? It's an RNA virus;

    I am certainly not an expert in this field, but I notice that according to the linked page of photos of this class of virus, that it includes both measles and mumps. The body pretty much self-vaccinates against both of these diseases, in that normally, once you contract the disease once, you have a lasting immunity.

    This seems to contradict the sweeping statement that because of the class of virus this thing is, it would mutate too often to make a "standard" vaccination work. Obviously, if it mutated so frequently, people would be succeptable to mutated strains of the diseases over and over again.

    Oh, yeah, not to mention that there are effective vaccines for both measles and mumps.

    Interestingly, though, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), yet another illness in this same family, is not currently prevented with a vaccine, but rather with a monoclonal antibody injection, Synagis