2014 Ebola Outbreak

**6souls** · 2014-04-01 20:46

This has been brushed to the side by major news networks since the outbreak was discovered earlier this year. A statement released today by Doctors without Borders calls this 'unprecedented' as there is currently no way to contain the virus and has spread to at least two other countries (the source being Guinea).

Ebola toll rises in 'unprecedented' outbreak
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image..._africa464.gif

n outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa has spread to Guinea's capital and beyond its borders in an "unprecedented epidemic," a leading aid agency reported Monday.

A total of 122 patients are suspected of contracting Ebola and 78 have died, Doctors Without Borders said. Most victims have been in Guinea, but the World Health Organization reported Sunday that two deaths in Sierra Leone and one in Liberia are suspected to have been caused by the Ebola virus.

Cases have been identified in three provinces in Guinea near the borders and in Conakry, its coastal capital, said Mariano Lugli, the Doctors Without Borders coordinator there.

"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country," Lugli said in a statement issued by the organization. Previous outbreaks "were much more geographically contained and involved more remote locations," he said.

The organization, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) describes Ebola as "one of the world's most deadly diseases." It spreads in the blood and shuts down the immune system, causing high fever, headache and muscle pain.

It is rare but creates panic, because there is no cure and it's fatal in up to 90% of cases, according to MSF. The variant seen in the Guinea outbreak is the so-called Zaire strain, which Lugli called "the most aggressive and deadly."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/31/health...ola/index.html

World Health Organization - 'neither an epidemic, nor unprecedented'

Spoiler: show

The deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea, West Africa, remains in a "limited geographic area", the World Health Organization has said.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it was neither an epidemic, nor unprecedented.

But medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said its spread makes it very difficult to control.

The WHO says 83 people in Guinea have died in suspected cases of Ebola, which is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims.

It has now spread to neighbouring Liberia, as well as Guinea's capital, Conakry, which has a population of two million people.

Liberia has recorded a total of seven suspected and confirmed cases, including four deaths.

Outbreaks of Ebola occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests, the WHO says.

"We need to be very careful about how we characterise something which is up to now an outbreak with sporadic cases," Mr Hartl told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WHO says the epidemiology of this outbreak is the same as previous outbreaks and remains localised, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.

The organisation adds that cases in Conakry and Liberia can be traced to the south-east of Guinea where the outbreak began.

On Monday, MSF described the outbreak as "unprecedented".

"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases," said Mariano Lugli, a co-ordinator in Guinea for the medical charity.

"This geographical spread is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the epidemic."

The outbreak of Ebola had centred around Guinea's remote south-eastern region of Nzerekore but it took the authorities six weeks to identify the disease.

Guinea has so far confirmed 122 cases of Ebola since January.

Liberia's Health Minister, Walter Gwenigale, on Monday warned people to stop having sex because the virus was spread via bodily fluids.

This was in addition to existing advice to stop shaking hands and kissing.

Sierra Leone has also reported five suspected cases, none of which have yet been confirmed, while Senegal, which also borders Guinea, has closed its land border.

Saudi Arabia suspended visas for Muslim pilgrims from Guinea and Liberia on Tuesday, in a sign of the growing unease about the outbreak

The "preventive" measure came at the request of the Saudi health ministry "due to the danger of the disease and its highly contagious" nature, state news agency SPA reported.

The tropical virus leads to haemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-26838885
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV; previously ZEBOV):

Also known simply as the Zaire virus, ZEBOV has the highest case-fatality rate of the ebolaviruses, up to 90% in some epidemics, with an average case fatality rate of approximately 83% over 27 years. There have been more outbreaks of Zaire ebolavirus than of any other species. The first outbreak occurred on 26 August 1976 in Yambuku. The first recorded case was Mabalo Lokela, a 44‑year-old schoolteacher. The symptoms resembled malaria, and subsequent patients received quinine. Transmission has been attributed to reuse of unsterilized needles and close personal contact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease

This outbreak also has it's own wiki with more information;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Guinea_Ebola_outbreak

**kuronosan** · 2014-04-01 21:22

Fuck.

**Kohan** · 2014-04-01 21:51

Been nice knowing you, fuckers. End of world incoming, etc.

**tyven** · 2014-04-01 22:14

Man I read the hot zone in 7th grade and Ebola really fucked my shit up

**chazzyphizzle** · 2014-04-01 22:27

i miss vajra

**Roranora** · 2014-04-01 23:56

no bueno

**Senji** · 2014-04-02 00:28

Expected 3 or 4 zeroes tacked onto those figures by now.

**Ghost_Wheel22** · 2014-04-02 01:49

I'll worry when I start seeing words in bold and in red. Or if it somehow mutates to become airborne and we see some Tom Clancy shit played out across Africa.

**Not Kuno** · 2014-04-02 07:50

Isnt it already slightly airborne? But like super close proximity?

Anyway, if that shit hits Monrovia then its gg irl.

**myreality** · 2014-04-02 08:42

Whoever updated the Plague inc. app......bravo.

**Meresgi** · 2014-04-02 11:05

Unless ebola makes people come back to life and crave human flesh, no one will care!

**archibaldcrane** · 2014-04-02 11:30

Originally Posted by tyven

Man I read the hot zone in 7th grade and Ebola really fucked my shit up

that book was nuts

**ringthree** · 2014-04-02 12:28

Second story on Google news for days now apparently = "Brushed aside by the media".

Also, burnout.

The Hot Zone happened at an institute hosted by the university I work at.

**tyven** · 2014-04-02 12:31

Yea wasn't it in frickin Reston? That was scary shit living in Vienna LOL

**ringthree** · 2014-04-02 12:44

Originally Posted by tyven

Yea wasn't it in frickin Reston? That was scary shit living in Vienna LOL

Yep. And we should get drinks after work sometime. You live next to me.

Ebola doesn't really scare me honestly (on like a extinction level). The burn-out on it is way too fast (even if you get it to a high population area people die so fast that quarantine measure would end the epidemic in days). Not saying it wouldn't kill a ton of people, just saying that it would kill people too fast to kill everyone.

I am much more scared of a disease with a longer gestation or that persists in the environment much longer than Ebola.

**notorious bum** · 2014-04-02 23:40

Fuckers over here aren't even worried enough about an AIDS epidemic. Ebola is only scary to Americans because of the special effects.

**BadKarma** · 2014-04-02 23:53

Where can i get my full body condom?

**notorious bum** · 2014-04-03 01:04

Google it and post the results. We must educate the public.

**kuronosan** · 2014-04-03 07:35

Originally Posted by ringthree

Yep. And we should get drinks after work sometime. You live next to me.

Ebola doesn't really scare me honestly (on like a extinction level). The burn-out on it is way too fast (even if you get it to a high population area people die so fast that quarantine measure would end the epidemic in days). Not saying it wouldn't kill a ton of people, just saying that it would kill people too fast to kill everyone.

I am much more scared of a disease with a longer gestation or that persists in the environment much longer than Ebola.

Oh you mean like Yersinia pestis? Or Polio?

Or.... OBESITY?

People aren't worried because Ebola has the potential for mass extinction. They're worried because they don't want massive numbers of people to die.

Keep on truckin', Scrooge.

**Senji** · 2014-04-03 08:12

People don't care if massive amounts of people die. They're worried if it will lead to some dumb fuck getting them dead.

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