Ebola outbreak

GBDG1

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This has to be one of the scariest things out there.

- 90% transmission rate
- 68% fatality rate
- no treatment/cure

Has killed 16, with 18 currently in hospital. At the moment it's in Uganda, with one case suspected in Kemya. But it makes you wonder how long it is before something like this strikes over here.

Uganda Ebola toll rises to 16 - The Irish Times - Wed, Aug 01, 2012
 
That's it. I'm closing the windows tonight and sealing up the letterbox tomorrow, well after the mails been delivered.

Been around a while A site and can't see this latest outbreak, like the many before causing much trouble down my road....
 
President Yoweri Museveni has advised people to avoid shaking hands, casual sex and do-it-yourself burials to reduce the chance of contracting the deadly haemorrhagic fever.

Wonder if he meant in that particular order??
 
thats the one problem with the world today, travel is so much quicker, it would only take one person to get on a plane before showing symptoms, and get off looking like they simply have a bad cold, to be let through customs and in to a metropolitan area and 'outbreak' would be a definite possibility, and cull millions, to say nothing of the devestation from fire damage etc that would likely ensue as people cannot respond to things etc.

luckily, customs officers are always on the lookout for people coming back from countries like Africa and Asia where there are some horrific transmittable diseases, and if they see any signs, would look to quarantine them. Again, thankfully, things like Ebola tend to progress very quickly and become obvious, even in the time it takes to get a long haul flight it should be obvious the person doesnt just have a light flu....
 
As you said Knyght_byte,

If ebola had a higher incubation period like 5 days before real symptoms started showing then it would be far deadlier.

yup. and due to the fact it kills so quickly it actually helps us control it better. a horrible way to die though.
 
things like Ebola tend to progress very quickly and become obvious, even in the time it takes to get a long haul flight it should be obvious the person doesnt just have a light flu....

yes but by the time that flight lands everybody on it has been infected and they wont be showing symptoms until hours later by which time they have also infected everyone they came into contact with after leaving the plane and so it goes on.
Scary stuff.
 
It's nothing new though. They tried to scare us with this a few years ago before moving on to other things to scare us with like bird flu. I read somewhere the other week that they were worried about seal flu transferring to humans, something else for the media to get hysterical about then :suicide:
 
It's nothing new though. They tried to scare us with this a few years ago before moving on to other things to scare us with like bird flu. I read somewhere the other week that they were worried about seal flu transferring to humans, something else for the media to get hysterical about then :suicide:

Scaremongering sells papers, they'll love it.
 
Scaremongering sells papers, they'll love it.

Indeed. I stopped buying papers when Dianna died and have now stopped watching the news.
 
My cousin has recently gone down with an unknown virus, been in the severity care unit in Hospital this past week. Doctors have diagnosed potential damage to her heart from this virus...!! :eek:

Damn scary what you can pick up these days.... :(
 
My cousin has recently gone down with an unknown virus, been in the severity care unit in Hospital this past week. Doctors have diagnosed potential damage to her heart from this virus...!! :eek:

Damn scary what you can pick up these days.... :(

i think the problem is viruses tend to strengthen themselves to stop medication etc working. so all we are doing is forcing ever stronger strains.
 
i think the problem is viruses tend to strengthen themselves to stop medication etc working. so all we are doing is forcing ever stronger strains.

Not necessarily stronger, but their ability to mutate greatly exceeds our ability to produce drugs/antibodies to deal with each mutation.
 
And even worse, the media's ability and desire to report every single death in the World and inundate us with bad news is relentless ;)
 
Uganda has seen numerous Ebola cases in the last 5 years. Worst in 2007 and this latest one, yet it has rarely spread far outside it's borders.
The last time it was seen in the UK was in 1988, but that infected just one individual and was caused by a lab accident. In fact all cases of Ebola in recent history have been in Uganda and it's neighbouring nations, all cases outside of Africa have been due to lab accidents.
 
thats the one problem with the world today, travel is so much quicker, it would only take one person to get on a plane before showing symptoms, and get off looking like they simply have a bad cold, to be let through customs and in to a metropolitan area and 'outbreak' would be a definite possibility, and cull millions, to say nothing of the devestation from fire damage etc that would likely ensue as people cannot respond to things etc.

luckily, customs officers are always on the lookout for people coming back from countries like Africa and Asia where there are some horrific transmittable diseases, and if they see any signs, would look to quarantine them. Again, thankfully, things like Ebola tend to progress very quickly and become obvious, even in the time it takes to get a long haul flight it should be obvious the person doesnt just have a light flu....

The other problem is also as population grow,local move into area not otherwise occupy a few years ago,which then brings them into contact with new disease or old disease,that at one time remained remote or undiscovered.
 
My cousin has recently gone down with an unknown virus, been in the severity care unit in Hospital this past week. Doctors have diagnosed potential damage to her heart from this virus...!! :eek:

Damn scary what you can pick up these days.... :(

Blimey - sorry to hear that.

Where is your cousin?

Any update?
 
As you said Knyght_byte,

If ebola had a higher incubation period like 5 days before real symptoms started showing then it would be far deadlier.

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever | CDC Special Pathogens Branch

The incubation period for Ebola HF ranges from 2 to 21 days.

I thought it was ten days. A few places claim 2 to 21. I don't think there's anything to worry about though.

The US had plague:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16943764?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
 
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