Ebola Outbreak

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

Register Log in
The situation remains absolutely frightening for those on the ground. My prayers are with everyone touched by this epidemic and for strength for those trying to give the afflicted care.
 
Interesting article predicting what can happen if the plague isn't contained

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29060239

One possibility is that, like other diseases, it will adapt to the new host (human beings) and become less lethal...one guy opines that this particular strain already may have adapted a bit to the new host...
 
[QUOTE="ChemGal, post: 15545, member: 18"]A good story, a Brit has recovered:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29045908

I wonder what the fatality rate would be in a first world country.[/QUOTE]

First world countries were not able to stop the spread of HIV/Aids, although they were able to come up with ways to 'manage' it. The Ebola virus outbreak shows no signs of burning out and is adapting and mutating - maybe the only hope is an Ebola vaccine.
 
[QUOTE="Inukshuk, post: 16918, member: 49"]

First world countries were not able to stop the spread of HIV/Aids, although they were able to come up with ways to 'manage' it. The Ebola virus outbreak shows no signs of burning out and is adapting and mutating - maybe the only hope is an Ebola vaccine.[/QUOTE]
Supportive treatment has been shown to increase the survival rate for Ebola though, that has not been demonstrated for AIDS.
 
Another dead doctor. I'm trying to remember, but I don't think any of the foreign doctors who were flown out died:
Link won't paste here for some reason, I'll try the post below.
 
I know we have placed our hope in vaccines for tbe last fifty or so, years for many diseases. It has worked so far but we also have been told that in time, many vaccines will become useless....probably not in our lifetimes but we are starting to see the signs.

The immediate threat has us searching for a vaccine but are we also searching to remove the cause? Do we know what causes Ebola for sure?
 
Waterfall said:
Help me here......what causes a virus?
Click to expand...
What do you mean by that? I find it to be a bit like asking what causes an element - unless you go back to the big bang it's an odd question.
A virus is a thing - in a grey area between living and non-living, it depends on what definition is used.
It contains a protein coat and genetic material, it may be RNA or DNA based.
A virus is not capable of replicating on it's own, it needs something that fits the living definition better in order to produce more of itself.

Viruses were likely around near the beginning of life. Probably an artifact of something going wrong in a single-cell organism. I could be off here, I haven't studied where they originated from.
This is what I could find quickly that seems to cover their origin pretty well:

There is much debate among virologists about this question. Three main hypotheses have been articulated: 1. The progressive, or escape, hypothesis states that viruses arose from genetic elements that gained the ability to move between cells; 2. the regressive, or reduction, hypothesis asserts that viruses are remnants of cellular organisms; and 3. the virus-first hypothesis states that viruses predate or coevolved with their current cellular hosts.

http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/the-origins-of-viruses-14398218
 
Waterfall said:
Im not a bioligist...just wondering if they should be "culling" fruit bats or other sources?
Click to expand...
That would be more than one species (wikipedia tells me 166) and if their population is stable I think it's a bad idea. Throwing off the numbers of one population is going to affect many other animals as well.
 
I know they culled the birds for the swine flu virus and we contril rabies by placing bait around for the animals to eat.
 
Also some research suggests that it could be plants transferring the virus and not animals. The fruit bat theory is a hypothesis theyre leaning towards right now I think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top