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. 

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.

New coronavirus could become SARS-like epidemic due to superspreader patients: experts

People who think the new coronavirus couldn’t take off and cause a SARS-like crisis may have forgotten a phenomenon that was a game-changer during SARS — patients called superspreaders.
At present, this new coronavirus doesn’t seem to spread easily from person to person, a fact which some people use to argue it will not become the next SARS. Some limited human transmission has occurred, but confirmed cases are few and sporadically seen.
However, several experts suggest that superspreaders, which turned SARS into a global outbreak, could do the same with this new virus. That term refers to people who buck the transmission trend with a given bacteria or virus, infecting many more people than is the norm.

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/03/25/i-think-we-would-be-in-big-trouble-superspreader-patients-could-turn-new-coronavirus-into-sars-like-epidemic-experts/

The Virus That Learns

If you don’t have an immune system, you don’t last long in this parasite-riddled world. Your body receives a steady stream of invaders–viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens–which it has to recognize and fight. In many cases, it’s a brutal battle with an ultimate goal of eradication.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/27/the-virus-that-learns/

Locust alert in Middle East as plague descends on Egypt

Locust alert in Middle East as plague descends on Egypt and creates panic in Israel

• Israel's Agriculture Ministry set up an emergency hotline and task force
• The swarm is estimated to be made up of 30million insects
• The infestation has been devastating crops in Egypt

As swarms of locust devour Egyptian crops, the Middle East is bracing for the destructive bugs to migrate their way ahead of the Passover holiday.
A swarm of an estimated 30million insects has been devastating crops in Egypt, fuelling apocalyptic fears

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287902/Locust-alert-Middle-East-plague-descends-Egypt-creates-panic-Israel.html

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



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Black Death Is 'Grandmother' of All Modern Plagues

I was just reading about the new genetic research that indicates the bacterium blamed for the Black Death, a bug that wiped out more than a third of Europe's population within about five years. Looks an awful lot like the modern versions of the plague-causing bug. And I was struck by the thought that perhaps we need to be very careful about messing around with this kind of stuff in a laboratory.

While I am not saying that these scientists are doing any thing that is dangerous. They are only looking at DNA. It makes the Mad Scientist in me think about all kinds of nasty things that could come out of such knowledge. Then again. That's always the price we pay for knowledge.

It also makes one think about how horrendous it must have been for the people of Europe at that time. Its hard to contemplate the effect of a third of the population dying. If it were to happen today it would devastate the economy. In fact it could conceivably destroy our entire civilization.

Scary thought.

Today's plague pathogen was also the cause of 'Black Death 600 years ago

A team of German and Canadian scientists has shown that today’s plague pathogen was also responsible for the Black Death, the most deadly outbreak of disease ever that claimed the lives of one-third of Europeans in just five years from 1348 to 1353.

The University of Tubingen’s Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in Canada have been able to confirm that the bacterium Yersinia pestis -- known to cause the plague today -- was behind the great plague.

http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_today-s-plague-pathogen-was-also-the-cause-of-black-death-600-years-ago_1582120