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Scientists Found the Origin of the Ebola Outbreak
Taco Cowboy sends this report from Vox:
One of the big mysteries in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is where the virus came from in the first place — and whether it's changed in any significant ways. ... In a new paper in Science (abstract), researchers reveal that they have sequenced the genomes of Ebola from 78 patients in Sierra Leone who contracted the disease in May and June. Those sequences revealed some 300 mutations specific to this outbreak. Among their findings, the researchers discovered that the current viral strains come from a related strain that left Central Africa within the past ten years. ... Using genetic sequences from current and previous outbreaks, the researchers mapped out a family tree that puts a common ancestor of the recent West African outbreak some place in Central Africa roughly around 2004. This contradicts an earlier hypothesis that the virus had been hanging around West Africa for much longer than that. Researchers are also planning to study the mutations to see if any of them are affecting Ebola's recent behavior. For example, this outbreak has had a higher transmission rate and lower death rate than others, and researchers are curious if any of these mutations are related to that. ... The scientific paper on Ebola is also a sad reminder of the toll that the virus has taken on those working on the front lines. Five of the authors died of Ebola before it was published.
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If you wait long enough the mortality rate goes to 100%.
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
Trying to figure out the mortality rate for a virus that's still making it's rounds seems premature.
Especially when the reaction of many who are exposed is to run, and hide from medical treatment...
Someone who dies in ten years after an Ebola infection is probably going to be dying of something other than Ebola (unless they got infected again I guess).
The big mystery about where it comes from is where it lies dormant, which it seems is as yet still unknown.
If this epidemic gets really bad, the social and economic consequences can kill a lot of people who don't even get the disease.
It could be the mortality rate for Ebola has been overestimated in any case, mild cases may not be recorded at all - there is something of a stigma with Ebola. The most recent case with the Nigerian diplomat who skipped quarantine and holed up in a hotel and then recovered after a few days indicates there are some who get mild symptoms (and are still infectious however - see Port Harcourt outbreak).
There's another one in Congo that appears to be a different strain.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Yo mama!
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
There's a chart accompanying the original FA which may help you
http://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbo...
The fact that so many experts on the disease die of it is a testament to its extreme contagiousness, and why we really should be scared of this thing. Of all people, experts of the disease take precautions to avoid catching it themselves, when they do, its not a good sign. It only makes sense to put into place travel bans from infected countries. It is important when dealing with this diseases to stop the spread by banning travel from the hot zone. There also needs to be public funding for a vaccine.
Or get bitten by. The hypothesised reservoir is fruit bats, but other primates can be infected by filoviruses, and pigs have also been found to carry them asymptomatically. Source: the WHO fact sheet on Ebola virus disease.
Some medical workers are in fact spreading the disease.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
If this epidemic gets really bad, the social and economic consequences can kill a lot of people who don't even get the disease.
Given that five of the authors are dead of Ebola ....
This is really bad... and can only get worse.
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
It is unlikely Ebola has been weaponized. It makes sense to use a virus as a weapon if the attacker has some kind of effective defence against it, otherwise the disease may backfire. Right now Ebola is too dangerous for this.
despite recieving constant aid and assistance, have been unable to develop any sort of technical economy.
Perhaps that should read: "because receiving constant aid and assistance, have been unable to develop any sort of technical economy."
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
.....by pure luck.
Even if we accept your "logic", it has the ring of a sociopath.
https://donate.doctorswithoutb...
Even if you kill all the below average people 50% of the remain people will be below average and you will be in both groups.
Funny, especially because the Pygmies, who happen to be in Africa, are a lot more likely to do so.
Since when did doctors know the IQ of fetuses before they were born?
I wonder how that's supposed to be applied to the U.S., when its uniqueness is its diversity, due to immigrants. :)
All I can say is: go read a history book. Read over how Africa came to become the divided continent it is today.
Have you even read 1984?
*whoosh*
I was just making a dumb joke. Chuckle (or not) and move along.
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
Nobody in the western world gets ebola, because it requires terrible sanitation and hospital practices to get started as an epidemic. There have been 10 cases of hemorrhagic fever in the US in the last 10 years. None of them erupted into an epidemic.
If somebody tried to use it as a weapon, they would need to introduce huge quantities of it into the food supply. Given the west's food inspection regime, that would be difficult to do.
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company -- Mark Twain
OTOH, it could be that the mortality rate is within the expected bounds (1 in 2 to 3 in 4 ) and that a lot of people are getting infected and dieing away from the areas that the forces of the state can get to, to count the living and the dead.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Or get tissue (including blood) into a wound on the human, when skinning / gutting / butchering a carcass killed for meat.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
A "topical painkiller for the throat" in on itself makes it NOT a placebo but a painkiller for symptomatic relief.
And syrups which require prescription (not over the counter) tend to be based on some form of an antibiotic.
The main issue is the kind of antibiotic in the syrup and the dosage. Followed closely by the method of administration.
Dosage is usually 2-3 times lower when the antibiotic is taken orally instead of via an intramuscular or intravenous injection.
http://www.globalrph.com/penic...
Ampicillin:
Dosing:
Infants and Children:
Mild-to-moderate infections:
I.M., I.V.: 100-150 mg/kg/day in divided doses every 6 hours (maximum: 2-4 g/day) .
Oral: 50-100 mg/kg/day in doses divided every 6 hours (maximum: 2-4 g/day) .
Severe infections/meningitis: I.M., I.V.: 200-400 mg/kg/day in divided doses every 6 hours (maximum: 6-12 g/day)
On top of that, a teaspoon of antibiotic suspension tends to contain about 250 mg of actual medicine.
They are prescribing these to both babies and to kids in puberty, like I was back then.
So, better safe than overdose policy from a young MD ensured I got a baby dose instead of an adult one as I was almost 18 and weighed about 62-63 kg.
Not that I looked like an adult. Apart from the beard. Which I've probably shaven off before going to a doctor.
I.e. I got a 25-35 times lower dose than it was safe and about 5-6 times lower than needed.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens