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Ebola ?


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Errrm nope PJ;  they're both now jumping on the "hobby horse" (as you call it) of immigration. But worse, lying to the electorate that they can change the situation without leaving the EU & ECHR.  As for the Ebola saga;  your clearly flogging a dead horse with me, as it's quite clear that people movement facilitates the spread of pathogens; just because it hasn't happened in the case of Ebola, doesn't mean it can't or will never happen. It happened with Aids and it's happened with Flu, in the past.

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"Under a truck from Calais" is just one of many clear avenues of access to the UK; less likely than Freeborn John's scenario maybe; but still a possibility. So migration (ie: people movement), legal or otherwise, presents a risk. It's only the apologists for continued uncontrolled immigration that would insist on argueing the point.

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So, The New York Times has finally got around to printing a more worrying article than the "it can only be caught through direct contact" waffle.

The science world have known for many years the real danger of the Ebola virus and so too has the US govt.

Because the Viral Haemmorhagic Fevers are so easily transmitted and have such a high mortality rate the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) have long had Ebola rated Category A - one of 4 zoonotic agents with the possibility of being used as a bioterrorism agent.

So how is it that they were not fully prepared to deal with an outbreak?

 

If you read around the scientific journals you will realise that the NY Times article is a still a much watered down version of the truth. Zaire Ebola is category A and one of the most dangerous threats to human life on this planet there is.

As for it not being airborne - it's been known for years that it can spread via the respiratory route and also that it can spread from one species to another. The WHO stated that Ebola is not airborne, yet in the same bulletin admits that it can spread through aerosolized droplets -this includes sneezing and would be most peoples idea of airborne. However the WHO has a very specific and narrow definition of airborne which is that the droplets have to be small and light enough to suspend in the air and travel long distances on the wind. As they are aware of the popular interpretation of 'airborne' this could be seen as an attempt to with-hold the truth.

Melissa Wiatrek's  'Ebola' is an informative account, written long before the outbreak and so not doctored to prevent public panic. In it she explains that the natural host of Ebola has not yet been identified. It can replicate in bats but as death is so quick in infected mammals it might be that they would die before passing it on, for this reason plants and anthropods have been considered as hosts. Ebola has been found in leafhoppers and guinea pigs (both vegetarian) and a replication of the virus has been found in horsefly and mosquitos which supported the theory of insects as a vector possibility.

There have been a few studies with pigs who it has been found have caught Ebola from monkeys even though not having direct contact - thus proving that respiratory transmission as well as direct contact spreads the virus.

The danger with pigs is that they often serve as a mixing vessel for human and animal flu viruses because the receptors on their respiratory cells are similar to ours. So theoretically, once 'mixed' in the pig the Ebola virus can become as contagious as swine flu - but infinitely more deadly!

 

In "Estimating the burden of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in the United States" the figures given were;

60.8 million cases. 274,303 hospitalisations and 12,469 deaths.

The H1N1 was a strain resembling the 1918 virus which killed more than 50 million worldwide. The 1918 virus had a 2 to 3% mortality rate. Compare this with the Zaire Ebola virus which has had over 80% mortality.

 

Still not worried? Think it won't ever reach us?

The Zaire Ebola virus and the Marburg virus (which share extremely similar characteristics) have both been found to live in the semen of males who have survived the illness for 3 to 4 months ('Marburg and Ebola viruses' - by G.G. Lloyd)

The Ebola virus can, in a cool climate, live on cloth for 50 days which makes contamination over here easier than in Africa.

If it mutates to a flu-like virus contagion will be easier still.

 

So why are the world powers not acting to prevent the spread?

When I researched who's likely to die and who stands to profit I started seriously wondering whether the mystery 'natural host' of this virus might be a test tube!

and if you think that's going a bit far - do a bit of research It'll certainly make you wonder. 

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They've known about Ebola for decades. in fact they even made a film about a fictitous outbreak (starring Dustin Hoffman). It appears previous outbreaks have occurred in isolated rural areas, making containment easier; in this case it appears to have reached populated cities, making the humanitarian response more difficult.

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I'm glad someone's concerned Sha, about her prima-donna antics; as if we all behave like her, we've no chance.  Individual "human" rights just don't cut it, when matched against the survival of the many; something we need to inwardly digest in case it arrives here.

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