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Ebola outbreak sweeping West Africa started with two-year-old boy infected by a fruit bat
Daily Mail ^ | 24 August 2014 | Paul Donnelley for MailOnline

Posted on 08/24/2014 5:13:33 PM PDT by CorporateStepsister

"The largest outbreak of the deadly disease Ebola was caused by an infected bat biting a toddler say a group of international researchers.

The 17-strong team of European and African tropical disease researchers, ecologists and anthropologists have spent three weeks investigating the outbreak of the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

The researchers captured the bats and other creatures near the village of Meliandoua in remote eastern Guinea, where the present epidemic began in December 2013."

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ebola; ebolaorigin; ebolaoutbreak; epidemic; fruitbat; guinea; obama; origins; outbreak; pandemic
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To: CorporateStepsister
Fruit Bats have been a known reservoir of the disease for a while now. Check out the third link at this post: 1024
21 posted on 08/24/2014 9:32:16 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Thanks for the ping!


22 posted on 08/24/2014 9:34:26 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
OMG the Wikipedia description of that movie ("Braindead") is horrific, I can't imagine the movie itself.

Thanks SO much for sharing that link, I'll have zombie dreams tonight for sure.... :)

23 posted on 08/24/2014 9:49:51 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is...sounding pretty good about now.)
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To: Alamo-Girl

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!


24 posted on 08/24/2014 9:51:21 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Gadsden1st

Although it would be possible for someone to be infected with both Sudan and Zaire strains at the same time, it is highly unlikely that they will recombine.

All 8 Ebola genes are contained on the same piece of genetic material (RNA). In comparison, influenza (flu) has each of its genes on 8 different pieces of RNA. So it is very easy for flu to recombine, but not for Ebola.

Ebola can mutate, one base at a time, but that is a slower process than recombination. That is why we have seen reports that the virus in this outbreak is 3% different than the viruses seen in the Congo outbreaks previously. The virus has been circulating in West Africa for a while, long enough to change 3% from the virus in the Congo.


25 posted on 08/25/2014 3:57:39 AM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: CorporateStepsister

I have to point out that this is speculative. The boy was only pinpointed as patient zero through a retrospective analysis; how he fell ill is a guess.

Bats have been implicated in carrying Ebola, but no one knows for sure if they are the primary reservoir.

The little boy could have found a dead animal—bat or any other animal—in the forest and played with it. Or he could have touched some contaminated surface. We will never know.


26 posted on 08/25/2014 4:05:21 AM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: CorporateStepsister

I’ll remember not to play with fruit bats...


27 posted on 08/25/2014 6:43:59 AM PDT by GOPJ (New York Times headline gaffe:'Obama Outraged Over Beheading, Vows to Stay on Course')
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To: dayglored

I was watching the Peter Jackson version of KING KING. In the cargo hold of the ship I noticed, in the background, a cage for the “SUMATRAN RAT MONKEY”.

Braindead (Dead Alive) also shows you can defeat zombies with a lawnmower and two knives. Wonder if the knives were Ginsu.


28 posted on 08/25/2014 6:45:37 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (SOUL BROTHER! This house is not armed! (Signs people thought would protect them in the 1960s))
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To: exDemMom

They eat bats there. They also pick up dead animals for lunch.


29 posted on 08/25/2014 7:00:51 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver

I am aware of that. Several Ebola outbreaks have resulted because someone found a dead monkey or ape in the forest, and decided to eat it.

How the little boy was exposed, however, is anyone’s guess. I doubt he was trying to eat dead animals that he found... kids his age put many things in their mouths, but don’t usually eat them. They won’t even eat food you place in front of them. He could have put a contaminated stick in his mouth, for all we know.


30 posted on 08/25/2014 8:17:27 AM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: exDemMom

He could have stepped in bat crap in his bare feet. I agree its anyones guess.

Probably a million ways he could have caught it. Very difficult to isolate it although some of these researchers are pretty good at this stuff. Imagine traipsing around the jungle where you know this virus is and seeking it out. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.


31 posted on 08/25/2014 8:23:00 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Ditter

I don’t get it - what does Cameroon have to do with any of this? And why would there be any risk from someone in Houston who was sending something to the Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC?


32 posted on 08/25/2014 2:03:06 PM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Conscience of a Conservative

Do you know where Camaroon is? It is in west Africa where Ebola is rampant, the woman standing behind me was from Camaroon I heard her talking on her cell phone in a strange dialect and I asked where she was from. How long has she been here, did she bring the virus with her? There are people in the US that could be infected, and we will never know until it starts appearing here.


33 posted on 08/25/2014 2:17:43 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ditter

West Africa is a fairly large region. The Ebola outbreak has been located almost exclusively in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone (with a couple of cases in Nigeria, because some guy flew from the affected area to Nigeria). No reported cases from Cameroon, which is over 1500 miles away from the affected areas.


34 posted on 08/25/2014 3:05:02 PM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Conscience of a Conservative

According to my map Cameroon shares a border with Sierra Leone not 1500 miles away.


35 posted on 08/25/2014 3:13:39 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ditter
According to my map Cameroon shares a border with Sierra Leone not 1500 miles away.

You may want to get a new map...

36 posted on 08/25/2014 3:28:04 PM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Conscience of a Conservative

i went back and looked at another map but it is even worse. Camaroom is between Liberia and the Congo. Tell me Camaroon doesn’t have any Ebola.


37 posted on 08/25/2014 3:35:00 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ditter

Cameroon is over a thousand miles away from Liberia. And the Congo? I have not seen anything about reported cases of Ebola in the Congo (or Cameroon, for htat matter).

So, just to clarify, what you are saying is that every person from Cameroon should be treated as a potential Ebola carrier, and avoided at all costs?


38 posted on 08/25/2014 3:39:12 PM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Conscience of a Conservative

The maps I looked at they were Google maps and they showed areas where Ebola had been found. I did not avoid the woman in the post office, we talked while waiting in a very slow line. So I guess the answer to your question is No, every person from Africa should not be avoided.

Is that enough, will you let this conversation pass? You can spend the rest of the evening searching for the maps I pulled up, just to keep yourself busy.


39 posted on 08/25/2014 5:31:59 PM PDT by Ditter
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