I am a little irritated this morning ... reading about how people think Ebola is a man-made virus, blah, blah, garbage, garbage. The media & internet have sensationalized the topic of Ebola to create, per many of the media titles & opinions posted, almost a state of panic. Am I in agreement with how our Govt. is handling it? Hell No! Ebola is a Level 3-4 Hot Virus, depending on the strain. Filoviridae (or Filovirus) includes 3 genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. There are 5 species of Ebola that have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Reston and Taï Forest. Ebola is named after a river in Zaire where it was first discovered in 1976. Although Marburg, a virus very similar to Ebola (a Filovirus) was first discovered in Marburg, Germany back in 1967. Reston Ebola was discovered in the Phillipines back in 1989. Filoviruses are helical, non-segmented, negative, single-stranded RNA viruses, polymorphic,and have variable lengths. Believed to originate from primates- but other animals can be hosts or carriers (meaning they have the virus, but will never show symptoms). It is important to remember that not only can viruses transform and mutate into another species, but so can harmful bacteria- certain strains of E. coli, H. Pylori, bacterial/fungi Meningitis, etc. Ebola spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact with/through broken skin or mucous membranes with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, as well as coming into contact with surfaces and materials (bedding and clothing) contaminated with these fluids. Ebola is by far not the most contagious virus ... H1N1 (Swine Flu) & H1N5 (Bird Flu) are far worse! Ebola is very virulent because it is polymorphic- just like H1N1 & why every year a new vaccine comes out. This is also why developing a vaccine has been so difficult for Ebola- finding its viral genome via RNA. It is reported that a few trial vaccines of Ebola will soon go into testing within the next 6 months. The key to developing a successful vaccine is finding the specific transcription of the virus RNA, its viral genome, which will decode the virus RNA to produce antigens. A vaccine is nothing more than a diluted concentrate of a virus antigens. Once injected into a recipient, the recipients RNA will transcribe the antigen and code for proteins into the Recipients RNA/DNA and create antibodies that will run interference with the viruss RNA pathway via chemical signaling to reduce the virus ability to reproduce, as well as send signals to the recipients immune system to attack the invading virus. In summation, with regards to the Conspiracy Theorists that Ebola is man-made .... way too much credit is being given to people vs. what Nature can do all by itself- if one understands the biological processes. However, how a Govt./Nation responds to such a Level 3-4 pathogen can have very dire effects on the human population given Ebolas virulent, polymorphic abilities. Perhaps in that context, a conspiracy theory is plausible! I will get off my soap box now :-)
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 16:13:10 +0000
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