Here's The Most Terrifying Thing About Ebola

BI - Slate ^ | 9-20-2014 | Benjamin Hale, Slate

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I just finished "The Hot Zone," Richard Preston's account of Marburg, Ebola, and Simian Hemorrhagic Fever outbreaks in Germany, Africa, and the United States. This is NOT Y2k, AIDS, swine flu, or bird flu. This is the real deal. People dying of Ebola have ONE BILLION copies of the virus in each cc of blood -- there are TRILLIONS of virions (virus particles) in each dying human, all mutating and all highly infectious. The HIV only infects two types of immune cells; Ebola first infects white blood cells that disable the body’s ability to destroy foreign substances, then it seizes nearly every cell type. Healthy cells literally burst, turning you into a pile of mush. Infected cells that haven’t yet burst carry the virus through the bloodstream to invade different parts of the body like the lymph nodes, spleen and liver. When infected cells attach themselves to the inside of blood vessels, it weakens them, causing fluids to leak.

A potential natural disaster of this magnitude has not has been seen on earth since the Black Plague.

[firebrand]

Good point.

[firebrand]

What do you mean, too polite? Peggy Noonan says it’s Obama’s errors in “judgment” that are to blame for the mess we’re in. “Dumbass” is scathing compared with that.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

PING!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Smokin' Joe]

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!