Guinea Ebola Outbreak. Over 50 Dead.

Ebola Has A Death Rate Of 90%

There have been 29 confirmed deaths from hemorrhagic fever among 59 people killed by a mysterious illness in southeastern Guinea since early February. At least five of the dead in Guinea have been medical officials.

Health officials are trying to fight the outbreak of Ebola in Guinea and have dispatched specialized medical equipment, imposed restrictions on funerals and are seeking to contain the panic in order to prevent the fever from spreading.

Ebola has a fatality rate of 90% and U.N. health officials have expressed great concern that the disease may spread to Sierra Leone after cases showing similar symptoms, including diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding, were reported there.

Fortunately Ebola in its present form spreads only from direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected individual. However some experts fear the virus could mutate and become airborne. This would represent a hazard on a global scale. 

New Strain Of Black Death Could Emerge Without Warning

The Black Death

 Some scientists say a new strain of the Black Death could emerge without warning. And while modern medicine would be of great help in the fight against such an outbreak, the ease with which people move around the globe could make it hard to fight.

Estimates vary for the number of people killed by the Black Death that ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351. But the number was certainly in the tens of millions; it is thought that as much as half of the entire European population at the time may have died.

Around 800 years before the Black Death hit Europe another plague swept through what was then the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. Known as the Plague of Justinian. Again, estimates of the number of deaths vary, but they were likely also in the tens of millions, with one contemporary account estimating that as many as 100 million people may have died.

David Wagner, professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and the lead author of  a new scientific paper says.

“In my mind, pretty much all plague [Y. pestis] strains around the world are capable of causing human disease, and if conditions were right, would probably be capable of causing these large pandemics again," But Wagner also stated he doesn’t think that there’s much of a chance of that happening. “What’s changed is not the organism. What’s changed is humans and the human condition,” he says. “Hygiene has improved immensely … you don’t just have rats all over the place like you might have had during the time of the major pandemics.”  We also have antibiotics. “Plague is highly susceptible to simple modern antibiotics,”

So while the Black Death should probably not keep you up at night it is something that the world needs to keep an eye on.

Pandemic Protection ~ What Can You Do Part 1

Are You Ready For The Flu?

I have done a number of Blog Posts about the possibility of a flu pandemic but perhaps its time to talk about what you can do to protect your self if the worst happens. To protect yourself you must have an understanding of how the flu spreads.


Influenza or the flu as most of us call it can be spread several ways. One is when an infected person sneezes mucus directly into the eyes, nose or mouth of another person. Another is the airborne route when someone inhales the droplets that contain the virus produced by an infected person coughing, sneezing or spitting. And of course the good old dirty hands that our Mothers warned us about is one of the best ways to spread the flu through hand-to-eye, hand-to-nose, or hand-to-mouth transmission, either from contaminated surfaces or from direct personal contact such as a hand-shake.

So lets say you wake up one morning and you turn on the news only to find that health authorities are saying they have an outbreak or possibly a pandemic starting to spread around the world. What can you do? Well the first and most obvious precaution is to simply isolate yourself and your family from others as best as possible. Hopefully you have your supplies stored and ready so you don't have to run to WalMart and face all the possibly sick people. However if you do have to go out for supplies you can take precautions to mitigate the risk. Obviously a full military biological warfare outfit would be great but if you are the kind of person who has no supplies at home you probably don't have a biological warfare outfit in your closet. However you can at least dress in a way that will help lower the risk of catching the bug. You must cover your mouth and nose and eyes. A surgical mask or even a workshop dust mask will help stop the larger droplets from infecting you. Even something like a scarf or other cloth can lower the risk but it needs to be tight to your face. Swim goggles can provide good eye protection as they are tight fitting but any kind of large glasses are better than nothing.
Gloves are extremely important. Surgical gloves may be best but rubber kitchen gloves are not bad. Again anything is better than nothing so even work gloves or driving gloves can help.

Dispose of or decontaminate your clothing. It wont do you any good if you bring the bug home on your clothing so take it off outside and don't take it in. Burn it or wash it with disinfectant. You could boil it if you have the time. And don't forget that good old sunlight will often kill the bugs so just hanging out in the hot sun for a few days will help.

Decontaminate yourself. Get a shower with lots of soap and hot water if you can but even a cold shower is better than no shower. In fact you may want to shower outside first if you can. If you have a pool or hot tub take a dip in that. All the chemicals in the water will help.

Isolate yourself from the other members of your family if you can. If its possible you should avoid contact as much as possible. Consider living in the garage or the tool shed for a week or two. If you cant do that then try to isolate your self in an extra room like the spare bedroom.

Don't let your new supplies contaminate you. Wipe them off with disinfectant before any one handles them with bare hands. If you cant wipe them of remember that the bugs cant live on the surface of them for long. So every day the supplies sit out in the open the safer they get to touch. Two or three days will kill most viruses on most surfaces but twenty days is best. If you must touch them use gloves and wash your hands after.

Isolate your family from each other. You cant tell if any one in your house may be sick so its best if you can to have as little contact with each other as possible. I know this could be hard or even impossible in a survival situation but do the best you can. Avoid hugging, kissing and hand holding. Disinfect doorhandles and any other commonly touched surfaces as much as possible. Don't share eating or drinking utensils. In other words run your house like a hospital. It wont be fun but it could save your life.

Remember that people can have the flu and be spreading it to others and yet not look sick themselves. People who contract influenza are most infective between the second and third days after infection. Children are much more infectious than adults and shed virus from just before they develop symptoms until two weeks after infection.

Contact with outsiders should be avoided. But one cant always avoid this so if you are forced to have contact then you must decontaminate and isolate yourself from your family after. Remember the virus could be spreading in the air so stay as far away from outsiders as you can. No one knows how far a virus can spread in the air outside but most experts agree that if you stay 100 feet away from others when outside your chances of being infected are low.  
 

The Pandemic Perfect Storm

With Bird Flu H7N9 smoldering in China and MERS killing people in Saudi Arabia one wonders what the impact of two simultaneous pandemics would be.

 

H7N9 strain has been confirmed in 131 people and has caused 36 deaths since it was first detected. Now we have reports that three patients infected with H7N9 have developed resistance to antiviral drug treatment. According to a new study H7N9 has rapidly developed this resistance to antiviral drug treatment making treatment almost impossible. This has caused great concern among the medical community.

 

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia it is reported that three more people have died from a new respiratory virus called MERS. The World Health Organization said Saturday that it was informed of 51 confirmed cases of the new virus since September and 30 cases were fatal.

One pandemic would be bad. Two pandemics at the same time could be devastating. 

The Pandemic Perfect Storm.

H7N9

H7N9 is capable of spreading from human-to-human.

Scientists have found that the bird flu virus H7N9 is capable of spreading from human-to-human.


Ferrets experimentally infected with the new H7N9 strain passed it to other ferrets occupying the same cage, indicating the virus has the ability to spread via direct contact.

This highlights H7N9 pandemic potential.

H7N9 is on the way.

 

H7N9 is a nasty virus worth worrying about and it is spreading

H7N9 is spreading.

The number of confirmed H7N9 bird flu cases in China increased by four to 108 yesterday. The number of dead rose by one and is now at 22. To defend against this flu that is rapidly spreading in China, the government will be authorizing health authorities to “strongly advise” people who are sick or suspected of being infected with the disease to be hospitalized and to restrict their working. In Taiwan health authorities confirmed the island's first human infection of H7N9 avian flu on Wednesday, involving a 53-year-old Taiwanese man who is believed to have been infected outside Taiwan as he showed symptoms three days after returning from Suzhou City in Mainland China. So far, extensive monitoring of contacts has found little evidence that the virus has spread efficiently between people. Some person-to-person transmission may have occurred but this does not necessarily represent the early stages of a pandemic.

Why Is China's New Bird Flu Spreading?

As new cases of the bird flu H7N9 continue to pop up around China, officals are getting more and more worried that the virus can spread between people or that it will soon develop that ability.

There is no real evidence that a new bird flu strain is spreading easily among people though there are some reports of sporadic cases of the virus spreading to people who have had close contacts with patients, the World Health Organization said Friday.

China Reports New Bird Flu Death, 2 New Infections

Another person died from a new strain of bird flu in China on Friday, bringing to 11 the number of deaths from the H7N9 virus. Also three cases of H7N9 bird flu infection had been confirmed on Friday in Zhejiang province, bringing the country's total number of infections to 43.
The new virus has caused severe illness in most of the people affected, many fear that if it becomes easily transmissible, it could cause a deadly influenza pandemic, though there has been no indication of that happening.

China kills birds as new flu strain death toll hits 6

Workers dispose of dead birds in China

Authorities in China halted the sale of live fowl and slaughtered all of the poultry at a Shanghai market where the new virus was detected in pigeons being sold for meat. The H7N9 strain of bird flu, has sickened 16 people, many critically, and killed 6.

So far health officials believe people are contracting the virus through direct contact with infected birds and say there has been no evidence that the virus is spreading easily between people. However, scientists are watching closely to see if this new flu poses a substantial risk to public health or could start a global pandemic.

Deadly H5N1 Virus Can Kill - Protect Yourself!

About 600 confirmed human infections of the H5N1 virus have occurred since 2003, roughly 40 to 60% of which were fatal.

The virus can not pass easily between humans, but if it were to mutate and acquire that ability, it could potentially cause a pandemic. However in 2011 two researchers performed experiments on the virus that created a highly transmissible form.

One of the greatest concerns over this kind of research with a deadly virus is the possibility of accidental release by a researcher who becomes infected or some sort of spill or containment accident.

Now, the U.S. government has announced new policies for reviewing such potentially risky research before it gets funded. However the US is only one of many countries with labs working on this kind of scary stuff.

We need to be worried.

Credits: Image of virus from freedigitalphotos.net

Flu Mask Kills Virus on Contact - On My Wish List

Flu season is going strong. It can spread easily and for people who are already sick, it can be deadly. Now, there's a tool in the fight against influenza. Sure you can get a flu shot now but you won't be getting them during a survival situation.

But good news! Doctors have developed a mask that can actually kill flu viruses on contact. Unlike regular masks, it has extra protections against influenza viruses and it can be used in the hospital or by patients who have no medical problems. Doctors say the mask is very effective.

Infection Control Specialist Dr. Lawrence said, "The mask is very efficient at screening out or filtering out at least 95 percent of the particulate that we can breathe in. It wicks up the virus if it's on the mask and it kills it before it can infect the patient."

The bio mask can be bought in drugstores.They are intended for surgeons and patients in hospitals, but if you have an underlying disease and want to protect yourself, this could be a great choice. I'm going to hunt for some next week so stay tuned to see if I can find any.

Read more at 
Flu Mask Kills Virus on Contact

Deadly coronavirus can infect human lungs as easily as cold virus

European scientists revealed the new virus easily infects the cells of the airways of the human lung.

In fact, the new coronavirus is as adept at infecting the cells of the upper airways as two cousin viruses -- the one that caused SARS and one that causes common colds, the new study reported. All three are members of the coronavirus family.

The World Health Organization has tweaked its definition for the new coronavirus, in what appears to be an attempt to ensure health officials don't miss mild cases. That comes in the wake of the discovery of a mild infection in a British resident related to the person who just died.

Read more at CTV News: New coronavirus can infect human lungs as easily as cold virus


Credits: Image source freedigitalphotos.net

Could a deadly virus wipe us out - are we rolling the dice?

Credits: image by Stuart Miles on freedigitalphotos.net

Leading virologist Professor John Oxford, from the University of London, says such an outbreak may not be as unlikely as we think. 

A pandemic could kill us all if it gets hold. The symptoms of the new SARS-like coronavirus are a serious cough, a shortness of breath and a rise in temperature. 

Unfortunately, this sounds like the average common cold. But it kills and it can spread

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk



Technorati Code: JE9H5JYR9U6E

Bird Flu Reasearch Publication Moratorium

In what may or may not be a good thing, researchers have agreed to a 60-day moratorium on some of the more sensitive aspects of their studies involving H5N1 in order “to provide time” for international discussions. Back in December, the U.S. government had asked scientists working on a much more dangerous man-made version of the avian flu virus to hold back some details of their studies out of concern terrorists might use the information to manufacture and spread the virus, causing a worldwide pandemic.

More Bird Flu

A 39 year old man in southwest China died of bird flu on Sunday after three days of intensive care treatment in hospital. And in related news two separate teams of scientists trying to develop a vaccine for the H5N1 strain of bird flu have agreed to temporarily postpone their research because of growing concern that a highly-infectious airborne version of the virus the researchers are working with could fall into the hands of terrorists or escape the laboratory and trigger a deadly pandemic.

200000 would die and public order could break down in flu pandemic

As many as 200,000 people would die and public order could break down if Britain were hit by a full-scale flu pandemic, according to an official planning document. The Department of Health report says that half the population could develop symptoms of the disease, possibly “overwhelming” hospitals and doctors as well as costing the economy £28billion, but police and the army would be unable to help as their forces would also be depleted.

It says the outbreak of a new influenza pandemic is “one of the greatest threats facing the UK” as it could not be stopped from spreading and vaccines would take months to develop.


Read More

World ill-prepared for severe influenza pandemic

A independent expert-review committee, tasked to look into the experience gained in the global response to the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in 2009, has issued its preliminary report.

They found the world is ill-prepared to respond to a severe influenza pandemic or to any similarly global, sustained, and threatening public health emergency.