The epidemiology of Yellow Fever also bares striking resemblance to Ebola, given the distinct characteristics & potential virulence common to each virus: 1. an incubation period lasting upwards of 1 week (‘Physical symptoms usually appear 3–6 days after’) 2. an array of flu-like symptoms during the initial stages, including (‘fever, muscle pain, particularly backache, headache, shivering, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting’) 3. leading to varying degrees of internal “blackish” bruising & widespread hemorrhaging (‘gastrointestinal bleeding, haematuria, skin petechiae, ecchymoses,’) 4. followed by rapid systemic deterioration, marked by Kidney failure, often leading to death (‘About 20%–50% of patients with hepato-renal failure die, usually 7–10 days after the onset of disease’) ‘Typically, the disease onset is abrupt, with fever, muscle pain, particularly backache, headache, shivering, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting. Congestion of the conjunctivae and face are common, as well as relative bradycardia in the presence of fever. The patient is usually viraemic during this period, which lasts for approximately 3–6 days. In approximately 15% of infected persons, the illness recurs in more severe form after a brief remission of 2–24 hours. Symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, jaundice, renal insufficiency, and cardiovascular instability. A bleeding diathesis can occur causing gastrointestinal bleeding, haematuria, skin petechiae, ecchymoses, epistaxis, and bleeding from the gums and needle-puncture sites. Physical findings include scleral and dermal jaundice, haemorrhages at different sites and epigastric tenderness without hepatic enlargement. The haemorrhagic manifestations are caused by reduced synthesis of clotting factors as well as by a consumptive coagulopathy. ‘About 20%–50% of patients with hepato-renal failure die, usually 7–10 days after the onset of disease. Patients surviving YF may experience prolonged weakness and fatigue, but healing of the liver and kidney injuries is usually complete.‘ WHO Position Paper – June 2011 Based on preliminary reports from field doctors in Africa, Doctors in Belgium examining blood samples from the 1976 Zaire outbreak were initially expecting Yellow Fever, NOT Ebola. ‘The researchers in Zaire who had sent it couldn’t identify the virus, simply labeling it, “Yellow Fever?”‘ In 1994, another Ebola outbreak (in northeastern Gabon, bordering the Congo) was mistaken for Yellow Fever, based on actual clinical findings, ‘Yellow fever (YF) virus was first diagnosed in serum by use of polymerase chain reaction followed by blotting,‘ This led to the institution of Yellow Fever vaccination campaign throughout the region. It was only later, that doctors determined: ‘some aspects of this epidemic were atypical of YF infection, so a retrospective check for other etiologic agents was undertaken. Ebola (EBO) virus was found to be present concomitantly with YF virus in the epidemic.‘ Liberia & Sierra Leone, both primary epicenters, were recently subject to the “largest ever Yellow Fever Immunization Program” conducted in that region – an estimated 12 million locals impacted (infected) by the compound shot. This current version of Ebola virus had 40 years to spread to outlying regions. It never did. How did the Zaire strain of Ebola get to West Africa from about 3,500 km away from where it was first identified in 1976? How does a virus that has remained dormant, relatively stable, isolated, suddenly manifest in areas well outside its traditional territory? With a little help from the Centres for Disease Control (proliferation), that’s how. Even the CDC Director admits they are baffled by the unprecedented concentration of cases outside the typical range, ‘For more than four decades, Ebola virus had only been diagnosed in Central or Eastern Africa. Then late this past March, the first cases of Ebola began appearing in a surprising part of the continent. The outbreak in Guinea was the first sign that the virus had made the jump across the continent. Ebola then spread quickly to Sierra Leone and Liberia, and then to Nigeria.‘ Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, Director, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia VRM: Ebola Report vaccineresistancemovement.org/?p=13982
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 06:10:37 +0000
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