Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why Scientists Say Ebola Will Surge But Then Level Off Before The Disease Can Take Over The World
Forbes ^ | 10/15/2014 | F.D. Flam

Posted on 10/15/2014 2:31:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

With scientists projecting that the West African Ebola epidemic will mushroom, many people are asking how experts can be so sure it will hit a peak and come back down, considering there’s no vaccine or reliable treatment yet. Right now, the trend is steep and upwards. Of the more than 8,000 cases so far, most infections occurred in the last 3 to 4 weeks, said David Peters, Chair of the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University, where he and other experts gathered for a meeting Tuesday. The World Health Organization has projected a possible 10,000 new Ebola cases per week in West Africa by the end of this year.

How do they know when this frightening upward curve will level off, or if it will level off at all, as opposed to spreading around the globe and ravaging the human race like the pandemic in the movie Outbreak? The most dire forecast comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which predicted 1.4 million cases by early 2015. But even their graph levels off and then falls as the number of new cases eventually go to zero.

[SNIP]

Even without a vaccine, he said, the current outbreak will eventually “run out of fuel” as infected people either die or become immune. So far, at least, it appears that people who survive the disease aren’t vulnerable to reinfection.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ebola; ebolaoutbreak; scientists
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

1 posted on 10/15/2014 2:31:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

They know because Obama told them


2 posted on 10/15/2014 2:33:40 PM PDT by ballplayer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
How comforting. The Black Plague eventually leveled off as well. After it killed about 35% of Europe's population from 1345-1360.

Of course, the elites think the planet is supporting too many people as it is. They just can't decide if the ideal global population is 500 million, where it was for most of human history before capitalism came along, or maybe closer to three or four billion thanks to the technological advances which had nothing to do with capitalism.

3 posted on 10/15/2014 2:37:01 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
the current outbreak will eventually “run out of fuel” as infected people either die or become immune.

That's what happened in Europe in the 1500s during the plagues there, after half the population was dead. That plague, the Black Death was very much like Ebola.

4 posted on 10/15/2014 2:38:32 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vigilanteman

I have always said that this POS would find a way to extend his presidency. It’s all coming together as he has planned.


5 posted on 10/15/2014 2:38:54 PM PDT by catfish1957 (Everything I needed to know about Islam was written on 11 Sep 2001)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

A month or so ago these same experts were telling us how it was ‘impossible’ for Ebola to spread outside Africa. I have no reason to believe them now.


6 posted on 10/15/2014 2:38:58 PM PDT by MeganC (It took Democrats four hours to deport Elian Gonzalez)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Squirrels and deer, rats... lots of vectors besides humans.


7 posted on 10/15/2014 2:39:14 PM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ballplayer

All the hosts will die. That slows it down.


8 posted on 10/15/2014 2:39:23 PM PDT by refermech
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Even without a vaccine, he said, the current outbreak will eventually “run out of fuel” as infected people either die or become immune.

Ask that tool if he'd risk his kids' lives on that graveyard whistling assertion.

Better yet, ask his kids what they think about daddy's moronic optimism.

9 posted on 10/15/2014 2:40:18 PM PDT by tomkat ( karma's not nearly vindictive enough)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The author is one “F.D. Flam”...is his first name “Flim”?


10 posted on 10/15/2014 2:40:44 PM PDT by Constitution Day
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
See?

We have nothing to worry about.

/s

11 posted on 10/15/2014 2:44:17 PM PDT by SIDENET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
What scientist...? This one?
12 posted on 10/15/2014 2:48:13 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mrsmith

Squirrels and deer, rats... lots of vectors besides humans.

Cats, Dogs, Hamsters, Richard Gere’s Gerbil....


13 posted on 10/15/2014 2:52:49 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: MeganC
I told my husband that I have been remembering the final scene from the newest iteration of Planet of the Apes. This was the first movie, that was out a couple of years ago. Anyway, there is a neighbor to the scientist, who was working on a drug to help Alzheimers patients. While testing it on chimps, he took one of the chimps home; who, ended up being Caesar, the head chimp in the series. One of the other scientists who was working on the same project, accidently was jabbed with a needle containing the drug. He got very sick (the chimps didn't, they got very smart). So, he goes to the scientist's home to see him, but a neighbor sees him lurking about the house, and confronts him. The sick colleague sneezes on said neighbor.

In the last scene from the movie, the neighbor, who is a pilot, is shown going thru the airport to get on his flight. They then show him as a dot, connecting to other dots; that are connecting to other dots. He is flying a transatlantic flight, so after it lands in Paris, more dots. Pretty soon the globe is engulfed, and it happens quickly.

It's only a movie, but this one depiction of how a virus can travel extensviely, even jump continents, in a very short time stuck with me; and, I've been thinking a lot about it recently.

14 posted on 10/15/2014 2:56:39 PM PDT by LibertarianLiz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Although this is likely a completely accurate predication, how does that help the thousands presently infected or the millions who could die before it exhausts itself? If 50% of the world’s population is going to die, I rather hope that includes this fellow.


15 posted on 10/15/2014 2:57:41 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Feeling fine about the end of the world!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Inyo-Mono

The last great outbreak of bubonic plague was in London, 1667. Over the previous three centuries they’d blamed rats, cats, witches and foul miasmas but finally got around to dogs at that point. Never was any of those, it was fleas.


16 posted on 10/15/2014 3:01:15 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I wonder, are these scientists of the same quality as those that told us the Arctic was melting, the sea was rising and man caused the non existent warming of the earth?
17 posted on 10/15/2014 3:19:47 PM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“Even without a vaccine, he said, the current outbreak will eventually “run out of fuel” as infected people either die or become immune.”

so just as soon as everyone is exposed to the virus and succumbs, then those of us living in an alternate universe will be able to return safely to earth.


18 posted on 10/15/2014 3:20:03 PM PDT by IWONDR
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

How is this of any practical value? I have to get an Ebola infection and survive, then they’re pretty sure that I won’t get it again...


19 posted on 10/15/2014 3:25:39 PM PDT by jimmygrace
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vigilanteman

> After it killed about 35% of Europe’s population from 1345-1360.<

.
It took so long to kill so many because, at that time, Europe’s population was not as mobile as ours is, today.

They were not cooped up in airplanes, trains, busses, malls, Walmart, barbershops, theaters, bars, bath houses, etc.


20 posted on 10/15/2014 3:28:11 PM PDT by 353FMG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson