Ebola outbreak, and other potential epidemics

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 24 Oct 2014, 10:35

The guy was self-monitoring and reported himself as soon as his temperature rose. It makes me wonder, is it possible to screen for ebola by blood test before the onset of symptoms, or is the test in fact a check for anti-bodies to a ebola dna sequence, and as such not a test for the virus directly, but for the human immune system response to the virus, which is what causes the symptoms (fever, etc.) in the first place.

edit

One million doses of vaccine ready by END of 2015.

About 1 for every 1000 people who will need them.

Talk about the 0.1% ers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29756301

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-doctors-test-for-ebola/

So there are 2 tests - indirect antibody test or direct DNA test using PCR.

Neither works (reliably ? ) before symptoms start.

(although, if you can have symptomless infections, presumably you must be able to detect the virus some how in these people).

Edit

More information than I can really process on detecting Ebola.

http://cvi.asm.org/content/13/4/444.full

Different tests work better depending on the stage of infection, Early stages best detected using
Antigen-capture ELISA , (whatever that is) , after recovery (or symptom-less infection) it is better to use indirect antibody techniques,
and on dead people PCR works best, because the body has plenty of virus in it, but little or no anti-bodies (because the victim didn't get their immune system into gear before being overwhelmed).

jonny2mad · Post by **jonny2mad** » 25 Oct 2014, 02:11

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-2 ... c4699d46c3 new york and new jersey to quarantine people who have had contact with ebola patients, the CDC looking at the idea too

Post by **adam2** » 25 Oct 2014, 10:48

The young victim in Mali has died.
They used crowded public transport whilst showing symptoms and there would seem to be significant risk of spread.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29755443

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 25 Oct 2014, 15:40

Ebola cremation ruling prompts secret burials in Liberia

Treatment centres half-empty as families keep infected at home to avoid presidential decree that Ebola victims must be cremated

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... ls-liberia

[/b]

jonny2mad · Post by **jonny2mad** » 25 Oct 2014, 15:45

Well we get loads of illegal immigrants from mali and its next to algeria so expect it in europe. Be interesting if it goes airborne in colder climates like some people think, and we have mass deaths how people will react to that.

I noticed although people are still selling gas masks the better ones are low in for sale numbers on uk ebay .

Someone was saying in america stuffs sold out, or back ordered

jonny2mad · Post by **jonny2mad** » 25 Oct 2014, 15:49

Mean Mr Mustard wrote:Ebola cremation ruling prompts secret burials in Liberia

Treatment centres half-empty as families keep infected at home to avoid presidential decree that Ebola victims must be cremated

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... ls-liberia

[/b]

well if they are daft enough to keep the body they will die and leave the gene pool, cremation is the best thing to do

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 25 Oct 2014, 16:27

jonny2mad wrote:
well if they are daft enough to keep the body they will die and leave the gene pool, cremation is the best thing to do

Leaving a population naturally selected for those who are educated, and inclined to accept government advice as benevolent...

jonny2mad · Post by **jonny2mad** » 25 Oct 2014, 16:44

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSK ... 5?irpc=932 mali wont close borders maybe it cant very well, but we can expect it to spread into mali

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 25 Oct 2014, 16:56

Mean Mr Mustard wrote:......
Leaving a population naturally selected for those who are educated, and inclined to accept government advice as benevolent...

You have to look at the government that has been elected and what that government is asking you to do and in this case the government has a very good point. If the people reject this and are selected it will be because the people chose wrongly in this instance.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 25 Oct 2014, 17:23

Mean Mr Mustard wrote: Leaving a population naturally selected for those who are educated, and inclined to accept government advice as benevolent...

I don't see being educated and willing to to accept government advice as going together. Questioning government and only going along when the government has logic behind it's decisions is the wiser course.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 25 Oct 2014, 21:45

Yes I was trying to find a riposte to that as well. I follow health advice (for the most part) which is probably why I'm still here, and a lot of that comes from HMG. But the rest, hmm well.

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 26 Oct 2014, 22:00

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article47667.html

The Baldricks that manage the NHS have formulated a cunning plan to defeat the Ebola virus by effectively bussing infected patients to literally every corner of Britain, Added to the Royal Free Hospital in London will be Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, Royal Liverpool hospital and Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne as the first of eventually upto 160 UK wide hospitals that Ebola patients will be disbursed across.

It appears that nothing is being learned from either West Africa or from far closer to home Spain where no matter what precautions are taken by medical staff the virus STILL SPREADS. After all the ongoing Spanish outbreak started at Spain’s most resourced hospital for dealing with Ebola but was still unable to prevent the virus spreading despite only treating 1 patient at the time!

Instead Britain’s NHS Baldricks appear determined to create an healthcare catastrophe out of the Ebola crisis. This illustrates the fundamental flaw at the heart of public sector institutions such as the NHS, namely the myth of competency that surrounds the NHS where at least for 1/3rd of the time the public health services only tend to go through the motions of providing a health service which whilst most of the time the consequences for lack of consistency in competency is only to the detriment of the patient, however as we are witnessing in Spain that Ebola is completely unforgiving where

any lack of competency can result in a disastrous outcome.

Extremely worrying article.

If ebola gets to the UK, I have no faith in the ability of the NHS or the government to contain a outbreak.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Oct 2014, 07:10

the ongoing Spanish outbreak

Eh? Did I miss something?

Post by **adam2** » 27 Oct 2014, 08:23

biffvernon wrote:
the ongoing Spanish outbreak
Eh? Did I miss something?

3 cases in Spain, 2 of them fatal IIRC, seems to be under control as far as we know so yes it is going a bit far to call it an "ongoing outbreak"

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Oct 2014, 15:05

Lots more data at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... r=0#deaths