-none-the-less, this report doesn't bode well for open societies.
Liberia is losing the fight against Ebola because they are depending on NGOs and an influx of Western money instead of traditional ways of dealing with epidemics. The first few Ebola epidemics were in remote villages where the villages touched by Ebola were self-quarantined according to ancient traditions of dealing with plagues. No one went in and out, and the surrounding communities brought them food. The caregivers washed themselves and their clothes rapidly and frequently after each contact with the patient, just using simple soap and water. Very few ever got sick, and the disease was controlled in a few months.
Here in Liberia, everyone is excited about the millions of US dollars being poured in to “fight Ebola,” and everyone wants a piece of the pie.
Read the rest at the link
The clinical picture of the initial cases was predominantly
fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea. Hemorrhage was not
documented for most of the patients with confirmed disease
at the time of sampling but may have developed later in
the course of the disease. The term Ebola virus disease
(rather than the earlier term Ebola hemorrhagic fever)
takes into account that hemorrhage is not seen in all
patients15 and may help clinicians and public health
officials in the early recognition of the disease.
The case fatality rate was 86% among the early confirmed
cases and 71% among clinically suspected cases, which is
consistent with the case fatality rates observed in
previous EBOV outbreaks.15-17
Potential reservoirs of EBOV, fruit bats of the species
Hypsignathus monstrosus, Epomops franqueti,
and Myonycteris torquata, are present in large parts of
West Africa.
Thanks for posting. Health/life BUMP!
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
Ping
“If you like your Ebola, you can keep your Ebola.”
If you don’t like your Ebola, keep it anyway.
I understand that the Zaire strain is the worst one. Fatality rates of 90%.
"Potential reservoirs of EBOV, fruit bats of the species Hypsignathus monstrosus, Epomops franqueti, and Myonycteris torquata, are present in large parts of West Africa. Therefore, it is possible that EBOV has circulated undetected in this region for some time. The emergence of the virus in Guinea highlights the risk of EBOV outbreaks in the whole West African subregion."
I’m going to get really nerdy and geeky here, and point out that technically, the part you highlighted in red, is using the wrong terminology.
The strain is sort of like “breed” in higher animals. There are 5 strains of Ebola; their genomes are from 30 to 40% different from each other.
The Ebola outbreak in Guinea is only 1.5 to 3% different genetically than Ebola Zaire seen in other outbreaks. By definition, therefore, it is Ebola Zaire. The small genetic differences make it a separate clade, not strain. A clade is a minor variant of an existing virus.
...fruit bats of the species Hypsignathus monstrosus, Epomops franqueti, and Myonycteris torquata, are present in large parts of West Africa. Therefore, it is possible that EBOV has circulated undetected in this region for some time. The emergence of the virus in Guinea highlights the risk of EBOV outbreaks in the whole West African subregion.
IOW, look out for fruit bats.
Zaire strain. That’s really bad. 75% to 90% fatal.
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread