Ebola scaremongering?

Just finished reading, 'The Hot Zone', very good, recommend it, you will learn quite a few things if you do, fairly scientific, seems they had a serum in the 1980's.

Another interesting point, the virus can only last independently for 10 days then it 'dies?', which takes us to the question where does it host itself. Bats they think.
 
jsmoke said:
Just finished reading, 'The Hot Zone', very good, recommend it, you will learn quite a few things if you do, fairly scientific, seems they had a serum in the 1980's.

Another interesting point, the virus can only last independently for 10 days then it 'dies?', which takes us to the question where does it host itself. Bats they think.
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Can picture the shouting of TL;DR. As that usually starts after two lines.
 
Does anyone know how the scientists have worked out the theory behind the behavior of viruses and such, the theory is impressive,

  1. A virus particle attaches to a host cell.
  2. The particle releases its genetic instructions into the host cell.
  3. The injected genetic material recruits the host cell's enzymes.
  4. The enzymes make parts for more new virus particles.
  5. The new particles assemble the parts into new viruses.
  6. The new particles break free from the host cell.
Then they have a whole load of visual models and maths to back it up etc, I am sure it's gets extremely complex and thorough compared to the simple diagrams and explanations we see, volumes and volumes of highly complex theory I'm sure, but how do they work all this out, there are light microscopes and electron microscope then there is just basic test tubes, making cultures, mixing different things etc, how do they come up with all the detailed theories?
 
jsmoke said:
Then they have a whole load of visual models and maths to back it up etc, I am sure it's gets extremely complex and thorough compared to the simple diagrams and explanations we see, volumes and volumes of highly complex theory I'm sure, but how do they work all this out, there are light microscopes and electron microscope then there is just basic test tubes, making cultures, mixing different things etc, how do they come up with all the detailed theories?
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You've just listed the basic experiments... There are 1000s of different protocols to see what the virus attaches to in a cell, what it does in the cell, the rate at which it does it... Not one research team has found out what a single virus does... it is an international effort with each group of scientists adding to the picture. The nice pictures you see on the web are best guess of what is going on based on the research to date (and have been simplified dramatically)
 
Not sure if this has made it into the press, but it is probably only a matter of time. I have just seen the information provided to GPs from the GP committee for one particular (and quite high density) area. In this region there are no quarantine facilities available (the advice seems to be to leave the affected individuals at home), the GPs have no protective clothing available and so have been advised not to attend and currently the NHS have no idea how to generally transport or visit sick patients. How very reassuring!
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Not sure if this has made it into the press, but it is probably only a matter of time. I have just seen the information provided to GPs from the GP committee for one particular (and quite high density) area. In this region there are no quarantine facilities available (the advice seems to be to leave the affected individuals at home), the GPs have no protective clothing available and so have been advised not to attend and currently the NHS have no idea how to generally transport or visit sick patients. How very reassuring!
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so would that be Birmingham or London then the high density area ?
 
scorza said:
Malaria
Dengue Fever
African trypanosomiasis (aka Sleeping Sickness)
Hantavirus
Typhoid
Cholera
Bot Flies
... and many, many others.
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Well half of them are covered by inoculations, the others are so unlikely... I would be interested to know how many die a year from them though.:)
 
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Energize said:
Not the safest place to be with regards to violent crime either is it?
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Gambia is one of the safest countries in Africa.:p

It's probably safer than most cities in the UK after dark.

It's the Sex tourism that really marks Gambia as somewhere a bit worrying to go*, although it is becoming more of a proper tourist attraction!

*Both child sex and european women wanting to get together with a young african.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Not sure if this has made it into the press, but it is probably only a matter of time. I have just seen the information provided to GPs from the GP committee for one particular (and quite high density) area. In this region there are no quarantine facilities available (the advice seems to be to leave the affected individuals at home), the GPs have no protective clothing available and so have been advised not to attend and currently the NHS have no idea how to generally transport or visit sick patients. How very reassuring!
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You may be interested to find that GPs and other relevant practitioners are given information on Ebola (amongst other diseases) every July as part of a yearly information dissemination. However, this year it coincides nicely with the scaremongering so people can get all excited over something that would have happened anyway irrespective of current events.
 
Well there working on a cure and vaccine but in the mean time all you can do for now is to have really good hygiene and not to come in to contact with people.
 
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