* Geographical spread of Guinea Ebola outbreak a worry -MSF

* Resist panic and rumours, president tells his nation

* Neighbours close borders, restrict travel and step up checks

* Deadliest outbreak of Ebola in years

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/guinea-ebola-idUSL5N0MS37K20140331

Not a very good early April Fool's prank at all. Thumbs down!

It's amazing that this disease keeps coming back.



The Jedi Master

I wonder if an "Outbreak 2" will be made by Hollywood soon?

I can list about 80 friends that have the same flu I have, and another 40 that had it and finally got rid of it,

I've had it for 2 weeks, and Most of the symptoms are gone, except a coughing fit once or twice a day, and coughing up blood from my throat (well, its most likely coming from my sinus' as I clear my nose in the morning its has dark bloody stuff come out of it mixed with the normal crap.).

Everyone at my parents house has it, so when I'm over there Im like hiding in another room with a gas mask on, I dont want this flu back. I had it for 2 weeks and when it was in full force I wasnt even able to stand up.

If you have a read up on Ebola and the various outbreaks that have occured you'll see that it's not terribly easy to transmit - it's spread via bodily fluids and isn't airborne like influenza or the common cold. Every Ebola epedemic has occurred in places where medical facilities are sub standard and basic hygienic medical practices are not followed thus allowing the virus to spread. The only really scary thing about Ebola is depending on the strain it kills something like 50-90% of the people who catch it.

Other than that it's just another scare story to fill the 24 hour news cycle.

122 cases, in a population of 10 million.

Ever since I read "Executive Orders" by Tom Clancy I have been s*** scared by the Ebola virus. What a horrible way to go!

The main reason it's not more dangerous is because it's so deadly. It kills the hosts too fast to get transmitted very far.

Oh, and the disease was also used in Rainbow Six for even greater effect.



The Jedi Master

Oh no, this might be worse than the Y2K disaster!!!! we barely lived through that one!

Heh, I distinctly remember going to Barnes & Nobles a few weeks before Y2K and seeing all of these books about getting prepared for Y2K and all I could think of was "suckers!!!". PT Barnum was right after all.

Hehe yeah Y2k was such a scam! great payday for all the consultants and IT workers who made lots of money in the preparation, code fixes and planning for it.

Good thing we gamers have been preparing for the next pandemic/apocalypse by playing all the various zombie and post-apocalypse games

Which was another sensationalision of the virus.

Most people who die as a result of contracting Ebola are killed by multiple organ failure. There's no flaying around spurting blood from every orifice.

I read up on it right now and decided I'd rather not catch it either. It is like a special edition decease, extra everything. You couldn't make up a more sinister virus.

-C-

It is unwise to dismiss news of outbreaks of this virus;
I don't mean there is imminent danger, but every opportunity
that a virus has to move into a new environment, is also
an opportunity for it to mutate. That is how new strains of
flu emerge. That, and my overall ignorance of the details
of the mechanisms of viral infection and mutation, are
enough to give me concern whenever there is another outbreak.
How easy is it for a mutation to give the virus another
mode of infection? How distant is it from forms that are
spread through the air? I mean, it isn't to do with the
mass of the particles - TB spreads through the air and it's
a bacterium, huge by comparison. It might only require the
virus to acquire an affinity for respiratory tissue, and
it's off to the races.

I've never understood this outlook. It would be interesting to
have lived in a world where the issue was dismissed as insignificant.
In the chinese sense of interesting times. There were no problems
because people did the work that was required. Would you rather they
hadn't?

It's only a matter of time. Every species that attains plague proportions bumps into a disease that brings it back into balance.

Sorry to say...being human.

Um...that is how they died in EO. Did you read a different version than I did?



The Jedi Master

Well at least for those who are responsible for monitoring such things. For the average person we can do little about it so it's probably a wise thing to do. Unless you are travelling to a hot spot.

I always venture out of doors with an array of UV bulbs attached to my person, oriented outwards.

Yes, it's uncomfortable, but I'm still alive!



The Jedi Master

Ah so kind of like the guy on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Delicate Sound of Thunder"?