To Stop Deadly Virus in Angola, Group Seeks Hospital's Closing (Much bad news here)

NYT ^ | 4-9-05 | `

[Diogenesis]

is it long enough? see above re: std-like 60day xmission.

[EBH]

Actually they have 9 people in Italy in quarentine now.

[Covenantor]

See Diogenesis post 74 for recap of symptoms.

[dc27]

Actually they have 9 people in Italy in quarentine now.

That is scary.

[Dog Gone]

Nobody has been able to study this long enough to be sure. Most cases seem to show symptoms between 3-10 days. The 60 day case is an outlier, and might have another explanation, and probably does.

A 60-day incubation period for a virus is pretty rare.

[EBH]

See post 70...:-(

[xp38]

While watching the funeral for the Pope I distinctly recall seeing the communist flavoured Angolan flag being waved in the crowd in St. Peters square. This is it for those who wouldn't recognize it.

[eyespysomething]

Actually they have 9 people in Italy in quarentine now.

Do you have a source for that? Is it Rome? Everyone leaving there and traveling back to their home country. And if it's in Europe...

[Dog Gone]

That's a description of ebola, and while they're similar they're not identical.

[Diogenesis]

Statistics do not apply for small numbers.
So "rare" don't matter - it is important and may be critical not to ignore.

[lainie]

(Hmm..cultural wedding tradition says "Roman brides carried sheaves of wheat to symbolize prosperity for their husbands." This begs many questions. They're not Roman. He's already prosperous. She wore it instead of carrying it. Alright, I officially don't get it. Carrying on..sorry for the tangent.)

[EBH]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0%2C%2C2-10-1462_1684040%2C00.html

[EBH]

And here's the other site for the Portugal and other suspected areas: http://www.recombinomics.com/News/04040501/Marburg_Accelerating.html

[eyespysomething]

Thanks. Going to read it now.

[Diogenesis]

"That's a description of ebola, and while they're similar they're not identical."

Marburg, Ebola and Reston's differences need the nuance of a green monkey.
The rest of us are in deep trouble either way, give or take a glycoprotein.

[Covenantor]

As far as I understand the CDC site, the presenting symptoms are the same. In fact, even at the rash stage, Marburg, Ebola, dengue, and lassa present the same symptoms. As I understand it the micro mechanism differs which is determined through the labs test.

[Judith Anne]

While watching the funeral for the Pope I distinctly recall seeing the communist flavoured Angolan flag being waved in the crowd in St. Peters square. This is it for those who wouldn't recognize it.

*sinking feeling in stomach, here.*

[united1000]

I suspect that because the inital symptoms present as something flu / fever like that that quick assessment cum diagnosis may not uncover Marburg/Ebola. Then what happens when the full eruption occurs? Remember that these victims are usually brought in by the full extended family, so that one presenting victim may in fact be bringing say 6 to 16 exposed family with him. So testing of so many with overextended equipment which may of itself be a vector may the reason that Medecins sans frontieres faced the hard choice. Quarantine seems to be the only cruel answer in these circumstances.

Paradoxically IIRC the first outbreaks of Ebola were partly contained because the suspicious villagers blockaded the roads and paths and turned away all travelers, thus assisting the virus burn itself out. Sometimes the farm fold remember effective strategies

Another thing to remember is this is the first time there has been an outbreak of Marburg or Ebola IIRC that started in an Urban setting with 200,000 to 500,000 thousand people and not in an isolated village in the bush.

[Heatseeker]

Nobody has been able to study this long enough to be sure. Most cases seem to show symptoms between 3-10 days. The 60 day case is an outlier, and might have another explanation, and probably does.

A 60-day incubation period for a virus is pretty rare.

Was this the case in the original 1967 German outbreak where the seropositive but recuperating man had sex with his wife who subsequently came down with the disease (but recovered, I believe). See this page.

[Judith Anne]

I have read elsewhere that the host animal for Marburg is likely the bat. I'm thinking of bats landing on fruit to eat insects, urinating on the fruit, the next day child finds fruit, eats it...that would explain the majority of initial cases in children.