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Subscribe to RSSAn Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo risks spreading to major towns if not brought under control soon, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
The death toll has more than doubled since last week to 31, including five health workers. There is no treatment for Ebola, which is highly contagious and can cause internal bleeding. Depending on the strain, it kills between 50 percent and 90 percent of victims.
"The epidemic is not under control. On the contrary the situation is very, very serious," Eugene Kabambi, a WHO spokesman in Congo's capital Kinshasa, told Reuters by telephone.
"If nothing is done now, the disease will reach other places, and even major towns will be threatened," he said.
The disease has so far struck in the towns of Isiro and Viadana in Orientale province in the north east.
In August, 16 people in neighboring Uganda died from Ebola infections, although health experts said the two epidemics are not connected. They have blamed the Congolese outbreak on villagers eating contaminated meat in the forests that cover the region.
Related links:
Health teams face real-life horror in fighting Ebola
Five things you should know about Ebola
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How about giving us some indication of the chances of this reaching the USA....In fact why not just write a real news story with facts and other little things of that nature?
How about giving us some indication of the chances of this reaching the USA...
Um.... wouldn't that be supposition, and not fact?
You DO realize that there's a whole world out there that's not the USA, right? That also reads MSNBC?
Anything is possible with international travel.
no cure...nuke them
Should we open any envelopes from the Congo or Uganda?
It spreads only through direct human contact (fortunately).
Not that I get many envelopes from the Congo or Uganda anyway. ;-)
Ebola does go dormant in dirt and could be transplanted to a new area.
The UN, US need to get this under control it could be used by terrorist by just adding water to the dirt and spraying on anything touched by people.
Terrorist can gather it from the dead or the dirt where they blood drained in. I am surprised people are not selling Ebola on to Terror groups on the Black Market Already.
Where did you get your degree in microbiology? Wal-Mart?
Ebola lies dormant in the ground similarly to Anthrax and can wait for years for the right conditions to bring it back. There is some indication that when disturbed by heavy rain or flooding that the victims pick it up by their local stream and carry it back to their villages.
first patient becomes infected through contact with an infected animal, usually a primate.
After the first case-patient in an outbreak setting is infected, the virus can be transmitted in several ways. People can be exposed to Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood and/or secretions of an infected person. Thus, the virus is often spread through families and friends because they come in close contact with such secretions when caring for infected persons. People can also be exposed to Ebola virus through contact with objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with infected secretions.
So when the infected secretions land in the dirt the cycle begins again. I guess it is waiting for a monkey to start the cycle again. Must I go further and show the end result how it can be carried in dirt. LOL
one man,
Thanks for letting the cat outta the bag for the terrorists. :-D
One Man is not the first to have considered using these viruses as biological weapons (e.g. that cult in Japan several years back). I agree with Mark. His lack of understanding of epidemiology is amusing.
Here's a Mark Twain quote that I love and it often keeps me from speaking on subjects beyond my understanding: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."
I know your right about my lack of knowledge on the subject. I was just looking up what other people thought on the subject it seemed pretty straight forward. I guess it would make a good movie but it could never happen in real life. I just hope for the people there the country can get control of the situation.
Well thanks for that delightful information! Any terrorists reading this will have an entirely new avenue of terrorism to explore. It may even help the local economy as they gather up infected soil to mail to terrorists everywhere! It is a win win situation. I wonder if they will use ebay and paypal?
Special this week...Red Earth from the Congo. $19.95!
stillworking - are you serious?
Do you think the terrorists just pulled this article up today and thought "oh yeah! why didnt we think of that earlier?"????
Have you ever heard of a little something called biological warfare? Go back to 3rd grade now, your teacher is looking for you.
Weaponizing any disease requires control measures and biotechnology that are beyond the reach of most governments, much less the average terrorist. They could potentially throw an infected body (living or dead) into the water supply, but it's very unlikely to create any widespread issues. The disease wiping out the terrorists would be more likely from trying to manage the disease before it got to it's destination.
May God have mercy on these poor people. My heart and prayers go out to them and may He bless our doctors and leaders with wisdom and compassion for these victims to help them out in a good and decent way and to ease their suffering.
Maybe next time god can infect them with something a little less nasty. I think, given the choice, these people would rather not need mercy at all. Include that in your next prayer and tell us how it went.
I am sure if "our doctors and leaders" have the opportunity to "help these poor people", they will be put out of their misery as soon as we can get a "contingent" in there to take care of them...all of them...all at once, with as little suffering as is necessary.
If ebola makes it's way to any major urban area or travel hub, we are doomed. The incubation period is so long that someone could carry it a long way before they are noticed, especially since the initial symptoms look like flu.
Hopefully the monsters that eat "bush meat" will all be eradicated by the virus before they eat all the "bush meat"!
Eh...that's a bit strong, don't you think? When does eating bush meat make one a monster? Some people depend on this food source for survival.
Oh boy the U.S. better raise gas prices, because anymore this all it takes to raise the gas prices in our country.
As with most African governments, there's no need to worry about the health, safety and welfare of citizens when you can spend your money on weapons of war.
Tom Clancy wrote a book about this already,come to think of it he wrote another book about crashing a plane into the white house also.
OMG!!!!!! TOM CLANCY IS THE BRAINS BEHIND AL QUEADA!!!!
Ebola virus reminds me the bubonic pest also with dengue but the proteins chains so long makes me feels as if i'm looking at animal being inside at the humans and animals blood systems. The ticks, rodents, cockroaches any arthropod animal it leaves secretions on the floor also mosquitos could be the contagion route. A protein of that virus is a secretive protein that's one of the reason is so much contagious.It's a need to fumigate the area exposed to the virus proximity.This virus is a living animal, needs blood flood to live in the body till explodes to diseminate it again in secretions, not only made of blood or of mammals secretions. And can be spread on the air as a flu secretion too.This virus react as an overdose of heparin made of small simultaneous organisms living in the blood torrent and in the plasma the lynphatic system. As is reproduced in an uncontrolled way it destroys the own organism it lives, it means that even for be a virus is too big as it.Maybe if there was created a vaccine that only was attacking the genome of this virus or of the specific type of its main protein not affecting of course the human blood proteins and blood globules.
No resident or visitor in the Congo should be allowed out of the country
for the safety of the world.
How many people actually travel to or from the Congo, since it is essentially controlled by gangs of killers?
Maybe if is searched the antigen of the Ebola of its genome and is obtained also apart another antigen of the average of the different types of existing Ebola later this antigen of averages duplicates to achieve the complete antigen of Ebola's different varieties, and of course to have also the specific antigen of this type of Ebola that is affecting the human beings in major proportion. The Ebola is in itself a whole RNA's chain that transfers genetic material , maybe affecting its biochemical vital function it was possible to control this disease. But the ideal thing is to find the vaccine against the Ebola with its antigen. The genome does not mutate as it could do the antigen of a person who already has been infected by the virus and has survived the viral infection of the Ebola.
It isn't a matter of letting anyone out of the Congo. It's the person who doesn't realize he's sick and goes to Kinshasa on business, and then on to Nairobi or Mombasa and starts to feel ill. Wanting to ignore the symptoms he flies off to London, Madrid, Paris, or New York to sell, buy, or market his widget. Now he's feeling really bad as he travels through the city and heads to his hotel and tries to sleep it off. Before you know it, the housekeepers find a half-conscious man and calls the ambulance. The ER determines he's sick, but with what? In the time it takes to diagnose a deadly, contagious disease, the man has exposed hundred, possible thousands of people. There's your pandemic. One man, one plane, one terrifying disease.