Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
New strain of Ebola in Guinea: |
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carbon20
Moderator Joined: April 08 2006 Location: West Australia Status: Offline Points: 65816 |
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Posted: April 17 2014 at 4:39pm |
Scientists have found the virus responsible for the Ebola epidemic in Guinea is distinct from other strains in Africa. The virus that has caused a deadly Ebola epidemic in Guinea is a new strain that emerged locally, possibly transmitted by fruit bats, virologists have said. The outbreak is the first to be recorded in West Africa, but researchers said the virus causing it did not come from other countries where Ebola already circulates. An international team of scientists unravelled the genome of the virus and found it to be distinct from strains in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon, though they share an ancestor. The virus is of the EBOV type - one of three species that have caused outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa, said the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. "This study demonstrates the emergence of EBOV in Guinea," the authors wrote. Data from the genetic analysis "suggest a single introduction of the virus into the human population", probably in early December 2013 "or even before", according to the study. "It is suspected that the virus was transmitted for months before the outbreak became apparent," it added. "This length of exposure appears to have allowed many transmission chains and thus increased the number of cases of Ebola virus disease." Though it has not been confirmed, the study said fruit bats found throughout West Africa were "potential reservoirs" of the virus. "The emergence of the virus in Guinea highlights the risk of EBOV outbreaks in the whole West African subregion." More than 100 people have died of the outbreak in Guinea since the beginning of the year, and neighbouring Liberia has reported 13 deaths. The fatality rate was between 71 and 86 per cent in the cases they studied, the team wrote. |
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖
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Dutch Josh
Adviser Group Joined: May 01 2013 Location: Arnhem-Netherla Status: Offline Points: 95797 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsqzT3Ex32c&list=UUpPGJXgbwBmkIp291W0PCMw
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/17/us-guinea-ebola-idUSBREA3G11W20140417 |
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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
~Albert Einstein |
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Suzi
Admin Group Joined: September 02 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2769 |
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There are 3 viruses now trying to make the jump. Of those three Mers is closest. Ebola is human to human. Thank goodness it is not contagious before the patient gets sick. Have we ever had so much to watch?
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