Yup I know what mean but i was aiming at the hype of the media and the fear where it started basically.
The rest , an after thought
Ebola is coming to kill us all but it's nothing to worry about
- Thread starter Locutus
- Start date
Yup I know what mean but i was aiming at the hype of the media and the fear where it started basically.
The rest , an after thought
Ebola bats may be heroes as well as villains
Ben Hirschler, Reuters
First posted: Monday, November 03, 2014 10:52 AM EST | Updated: Monday, November 03, 2014 11:05 AM EST
LONDON – Bats are living up to their frightening reputation in the world's worst Ebola outbreak as prime suspects for spreading the deadly virus to humans, but scientists believe they may also shed valuable light on fighting infection.
Bats can carry more than 100 different viruses, including Ebola, rabies and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), without becoming sick themselves.
While that makes them a fearsome reservoir of disease, especially in the forests of Africa where they migrate vast distances, it also opens the intriguing possibility that scientists might learn their trick in keeping killers like Ebola at bay.
"If we can understand how they do it then that could lead to better ways to treat infections that are highly lethal in people and other mammals," said Olivier Restif, a researcher at the University of Cambridge in Britain.
Clues are starting to emerge following gene analysis, which suggest bats' capacity to evade Ebola could be linked with their other stand-out ability -- the power of flight.
Flying requires the bat metabolism to run at a very high rate, causing stress and potential cell damage, and experts think bats may have developed a mechanism to limit this damage by having parts of their immune system permanently switched on.
The threat to humans from bats comes en route to the dinner plate. Bushmeat -- from bats to antelopes, squirrels, porcupines and monkeys -- has long held pride of place on menus in West and Central Africa. The danger of contracting Ebola lies in exposure to infected blood in the killing and preparation of animals.
NATURAL HOSTS
Scientists studying Ebola since its discovery in 1976 in Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, have long suspected fruit bats as being the natural hosts, though the link to humans is sometimes indirect as fruit dropped by infected bats can easily be picked up by other species, spreading the virus to animals such as monkeys.
This nexus of infection in wildlife leads to sporadic Ebola outbreaks following human contact with blood or other infected animal fluids.
This no doubt happened in the current outbreak, although the scale of the crisis now gripping Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which has killed around 5,000 people, reflects subsequent public health failures.
"What is happening now is a public health disaster rather than a problem of wildlife management," said Marcus Rowcliffe at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which runs London Zoo.
Bats' role in spreading Ebola is probably a function both of their huge numbers, where they rank second only to rodents among mammals in the world, as well as their unusual immune system, according to Michelle Baker of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency.
Baker, who is intrigued by bats' ability to live in "equilibrium" with viruses, published a paper with colleagues in the journal Science last year looking at bat genomes. They found an unexpected concentration of genes for repairing DNA damage, hinting at a link between flying and immunity.
"(This) raises the interesting possibility that flight-induced adaptations have had inadvertent effects on bat immune function and possibly also life expectancy," they wrote.
UNDERSTANDING BATS
As well as tolerating viruses, bats are also amazingly long-lived. The tiny Brandt's bat, a resident of Europe and Asia, has been recorded living for more than 40 years, even though it is barely the size of a mouse. Bats also rarely get cancer.
"We are just at the beginning," Baker said in a telephone interview. "But if we can understand how bats are dealing with these viruses and if we can redirect the immune system of other species to react in the same way, then that could be a potential therapeutic approach."
It won't be easy. Turning on components of the immune system can bring its own health problems, but the idea -- which has yet to get beyond the basic research stage -- is to turn up certain elements to achieve a better balance.
One reason why Ebola is so deadly to people is that the virus attacks the immune system and when the system finally comes back it goes into over-drive, causing extra damage.
Ebola works in part by blocking interferon, an anti-virus molecule, which Baker has found to be "up-regulated", meaning it is found in higher levels, in bats.
Fruit bats are seen for sale at a food market in Brazzavile, Republic of Congo, in this file photograph dated December 15, 2005. (REUTERS/Jiro Ose/Files)
Ebola bats may be heroes as well as villains | Weird | News | Toronto Sun
Ben Hirschler, Reuters
First posted: Monday, November 03, 2014 10:52 AM EST | Updated: Monday, November 03, 2014 11:05 AM EST
LONDON – Bats are living up to their frightening reputation in the world's worst Ebola outbreak as prime suspects for spreading the deadly virus to humans, but scientists believe they may also shed valuable light on fighting infection.
Bats can carry more than 100 different viruses, including Ebola, rabies and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), without becoming sick themselves.
While that makes them a fearsome reservoir of disease, especially in the forests of Africa where they migrate vast distances, it also opens the intriguing possibility that scientists might learn their trick in keeping killers like Ebola at bay.
"If we can understand how they do it then that could lead to better ways to treat infections that are highly lethal in people and other mammals," said Olivier Restif, a researcher at the University of Cambridge in Britain.
Clues are starting to emerge following gene analysis, which suggest bats' capacity to evade Ebola could be linked with their other stand-out ability -- the power of flight.
Flying requires the bat metabolism to run at a very high rate, causing stress and potential cell damage, and experts think bats may have developed a mechanism to limit this damage by having parts of their immune system permanently switched on.
The threat to humans from bats comes en route to the dinner plate. Bushmeat -- from bats to antelopes, squirrels, porcupines and monkeys -- has long held pride of place on menus in West and Central Africa. The danger of contracting Ebola lies in exposure to infected blood in the killing and preparation of animals.
NATURAL HOSTS
Scientists studying Ebola since its discovery in 1976 in Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, have long suspected fruit bats as being the natural hosts, though the link to humans is sometimes indirect as fruit dropped by infected bats can easily be picked up by other species, spreading the virus to animals such as monkeys.
This nexus of infection in wildlife leads to sporadic Ebola outbreaks following human contact with blood or other infected animal fluids.
This no doubt happened in the current outbreak, although the scale of the crisis now gripping Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which has killed around 5,000 people, reflects subsequent public health failures.
"What is happening now is a public health disaster rather than a problem of wildlife management," said Marcus Rowcliffe at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which runs London Zoo.
Bats' role in spreading Ebola is probably a function both of their huge numbers, where they rank second only to rodents among mammals in the world, as well as their unusual immune system, according to Michelle Baker of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency.
Baker, who is intrigued by bats' ability to live in "equilibrium" with viruses, published a paper with colleagues in the journal Science last year looking at bat genomes. They found an unexpected concentration of genes for repairing DNA damage, hinting at a link between flying and immunity.
"(This) raises the interesting possibility that flight-induced adaptations have had inadvertent effects on bat immune function and possibly also life expectancy," they wrote.
UNDERSTANDING BATS
As well as tolerating viruses, bats are also amazingly long-lived. The tiny Brandt's bat, a resident of Europe and Asia, has been recorded living for more than 40 years, even though it is barely the size of a mouse. Bats also rarely get cancer.
"We are just at the beginning," Baker said in a telephone interview. "But if we can understand how bats are dealing with these viruses and if we can redirect the immune system of other species to react in the same way, then that could be a potential therapeutic approach."
It won't be easy. Turning on components of the immune system can bring its own health problems, but the idea -- which has yet to get beyond the basic research stage -- is to turn up certain elements to achieve a better balance.
One reason why Ebola is so deadly to people is that the virus attacks the immune system and when the system finally comes back it goes into over-drive, causing extra damage.
Ebola works in part by blocking interferon, an anti-virus molecule, which Baker has found to be "up-regulated", meaning it is found in higher levels, in bats.
Fruit bats are seen for sale at a food market in Brazzavile, Republic of Congo, in this file photograph dated December 15, 2005. (REUTERS/Jiro Ose/Files)
Ebola bats may be heroes as well as villains | Weird | News | Toronto Sun
via sda:
It's Probably Nothing
Don't worry, it's really, really hard to catch.
Instapundit.com @instapundit
Post-election we learn: # of patients under "active" Ebola monitoring in NYC triples to 357.
https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/530369816318590976
Number of People Under "Active Monitoring" for Ebola in NYC Triples, City Officials Say | NBC 7 San Diego
obola
It's Probably Nothing
Don't worry, it's really, really hard to catch.
Instapundit.com @instapundit Post-election we learn: # of patients under "active" Ebola monitoring in NYC triples to 357.
https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/530369816318590976
Number of People Under "Active Monitoring" for Ebola in NYC Triples, City Officials Say | NBC 7 San Diego
obola
WBTV NewsVerified account @WBTV_News NOW: Individual being monitored for #Ebola in Charlotte. @TheDavenReport reporting live now.
https://twitter.com/WBTV_News/status/531748809207185409
We're safe now. Bob's on the case.
It’s official: Bob Geldof to revive charity single to combat Ebola
Musician and philanthropist Bob Geldof, who in 1984 inspired a generation of rock stars to record a charity single for Africa, will raise money to combat Ebola with a new version of the song.
(Read The Globe’s primer on West Africa’s Ebola outbreak)
Geldof, frontman for Irish band The Boomtown Rats, pulled together the Band Aid supergroup for Do They Know It’s Christmas? three decades ago to help those affected by famine in Ethiopia.
It’s official: Bob Geldof to revive charity single to combat Ebola - The Globe and Mail
It’s official: Bob Geldof to revive charity single to combat Ebola
Musician and philanthropist Bob Geldof, who in 1984 inspired a generation of rock stars to record a charity single for Africa, will raise money to combat Ebola with a new version of the song.
(Read The Globe’s primer on West Africa’s Ebola outbreak)
Geldof, frontman for Irish band The Boomtown Rats, pulled together the Band Aid supergroup for Do They Know It’s Christmas? three decades ago to help those affected by famine in Ethiopia.
It’s official: Bob Geldof to revive charity single to combat Ebola - The Globe and Mail
We in Canada and the US can't handle anything on a large scale the panic would be our downfall .
Election's over, Ton. The teabaggers no longer have anything to gain from ebola hysteria.
Sierra Leone Ebola burial workers dump bodies in pay protest
REUTERS
First posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 12:42 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 12:57 PM EST
FREETOWN - Burial workers in Sierra Leone have dumped dead bodies in the street outside a hospital in protest at authorities' failure to pay bonuses for handling Ebola victims, in the latest strike to hamper the fight against the worst known outbreak of the virus.
A spokesman for the striking workers in the eastern town of Kenema, who asked not to be identified, said they had not been paid their weekly hazard allowance for seven weeks.
Authorities accepted that the money had not been paid but said that all the striking members of the Ebola Burial Team would be dismissed.
"Displaying corpses in a very, very inhumane manner is completely unacceptable," said the spokesman for the National Ebola Response Centre, Sidi Yahya Tunis.
He added that the central government had paid the money to the district health management team. "Somebody somewhere needs to be investigated (to find out) where these monies have been going," he told Reuters.
Residents said up to 15 bodies had been abandoned, three of them at the hospital entrance to stop people entering.
The head of the district Ebola Response Team, Abdul Wahab Wan, said the bodies had included those of two babies, and that some had been displayed around the hospital.
Sierra Leone has become the biggest hotspot in the West African Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 5,500 people since March.
While the outbreak appears to be coming under control in neighbouring Liberia and Guinea, infection rates have accelerated in Sierra Leone, prompting the head of a special U.N. mission on Ebola to admit on Monday that it would not meet targets for containing the outbreak by early December.
Despite pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, and the deployment of troops by the United States and Britain, the weakness of healthcare systems and infrastructure in the worst-affected countries has complicated the fight.
Healthcare workers have repeatedly gone on strike in Liberia and Sierra Leone over lack of pay and dangerous working conditions.
Two weeks ago, health workers walked off the job at a clinic in Bo, the only Ebola treatment centre in southern Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone Ebola burial workers dump bodies in pay protest | World | News | To
REUTERS
First posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 12:42 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 12:57 PM EST
FREETOWN - Burial workers in Sierra Leone have dumped dead bodies in the street outside a hospital in protest at authorities' failure to pay bonuses for handling Ebola victims, in the latest strike to hamper the fight against the worst known outbreak of the virus.
A spokesman for the striking workers in the eastern town of Kenema, who asked not to be identified, said they had not been paid their weekly hazard allowance for seven weeks.
Authorities accepted that the money had not been paid but said that all the striking members of the Ebola Burial Team would be dismissed.
"Displaying corpses in a very, very inhumane manner is completely unacceptable," said the spokesman for the National Ebola Response Centre, Sidi Yahya Tunis.
He added that the central government had paid the money to the district health management team. "Somebody somewhere needs to be investigated (to find out) where these monies have been going," he told Reuters.
Residents said up to 15 bodies had been abandoned, three of them at the hospital entrance to stop people entering.
The head of the district Ebola Response Team, Abdul Wahab Wan, said the bodies had included those of two babies, and that some had been displayed around the hospital.
Sierra Leone has become the biggest hotspot in the West African Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 5,500 people since March.
While the outbreak appears to be coming under control in neighbouring Liberia and Guinea, infection rates have accelerated in Sierra Leone, prompting the head of a special U.N. mission on Ebola to admit on Monday that it would not meet targets for containing the outbreak by early December.
Despite pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, and the deployment of troops by the United States and Britain, the weakness of healthcare systems and infrastructure in the worst-affected countries has complicated the fight.
Healthcare workers have repeatedly gone on strike in Liberia and Sierra Leone over lack of pay and dangerous working conditions.
Two weeks ago, health workers walked off the job at a clinic in Bo, the only Ebola treatment centre in southern Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone Ebola burial workers dump bodies in pay protest | World | News | To
Glasgow Healthcare Worker Diagnosed With Ebola
Glasgow Healthcare Worker Diagnosed With Ebola
I think a lot of the media (your moral and intellectual superiors) decided for you, not to report on ebola anymore, so it's our lucky day.
Glasgow Healthcare Worker Diagnosed With Ebola
I think a lot of the media (your moral and intellectual superiors) decided for you, not to report on ebola anymore, so it's our lucky day.
the best I got
http://forums.canadiancontent.net/hot-topics/131097-teacher-awarded-2m-mostly-hurt.html#post2040772
I even winked.