The following article describes the deadly Ebola virus. The interesting thing
here is that Laurie Garrett describes how Ebola virus transmission:
*…involves contact with contaminated fluids through patient care or
burial procedures….*
In the U.S., HIV is primarily transmitted by contaminated needles. I
suspect that the relativily low incidence of HIV in the U.K. could be
due to the fact that clean needles are readily available to I.V. drug
users in Europe. Areas in other parts of the world, with poor medical
facilities, are spreading HIV and other pathogens because of unsterile
medical procedures.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that clean-needle
availability helps reduce infection. They are correct. Pres. Clinton and
Donna Shalala-la-la, however, are too busy playing politics with people’s
lives by not acknowledging that needle-exhange programs reduce the spread of
viral diseases such as HIV.
The following article will also show that viral diseases are very real,
contrary to what the Natural Hygienists are saying. It will also show
that viruses, which are endogenous in one animal species, can cause
disease when introduced into another species of animals. This
trans-species viral infection happens all of the time. Influenza virus,
for example, is passed back and forth between humans, pigs and ducks.
When a virus is transmitted from one species to another, it mutates,
probably because of the different immune responses found in different
species of animals. A virus can be harmless in one species and deadly in
another. HIV looks like it came from some other primate and was probably
initially spread to humans through unsterile medical procedures.
I pulled this off of http://www.newsday.com:
Killer virus strikes Africa for the third time in a year / Killer
Ebola Virus Strikes in Gabon
By Laurie Garrett. STAFF WRITER
The Ebola virus has struck in Africa for the third time in a year,
this time in equatorial Gabon.
At least 10 people in the remote village of Mayibout have died from
the disease, and nine more are currently in an isolation ward in the
city of Makokou, the provincial capital, according to the World Health
Organization. Sources in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, said that
at least four more cases of the deadly disease had surfaced in
Mayibout.
The Ebola virus infects the endothelial tissues that compose the walls
of capillaries, blood vessels and key organs such as kidneys and
liver.
When viral colonies grow in the tissue, they punch microscopic holes
that eventually can cause massive hemorrhaging, with blood draining
from patients’ internal organs and externally from the ears, eyes,
nose, mouth, genitals, and even pinprick holes in the skin.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Ebola. Transmission primarily
involves contact with contaminated fluids through patient care or
burial procedures.
The northeast Gabon village of Mayibout is so remote that it can only
be reached via a 93 mile motorboat trip up the Ivindo River from
Makokou. Last year a suspected epidemic of yellow fever, a
mosquito-borne disease that can cause hemorrhagic symptoms, raced
through the same region, killing 36 people. Although Ebola was
suspected then, no cases were confirmed.
The current outbreak appears to have begun in Mayibout around Feb. 5.
On Jan. 26, villagers reportedly ate meat from a chimpanzee that died
in the rain forest, and doctors suspect the chimp was the source of
the epidemic. If so, this would mark the second time that a chimp was
implicated in an Ebola epidemic. The first time occurred in November,
1995, in the west African nation of Ivory Coast. There, a Swiss
scientist contracted the disease after dissecting a chimpanzee.
Even if the chimp were to be confirmed as the source of this
particular Gabonese outbreak, it would be unlikely to solve the
mystery of what creature serves as the reservoir of the deadly virus
in between human epidemics, experts say. That’s because chimps appear
to suffer and die from Ebola; a reservoir animal or insect would
presumably carry the virus without harm to itself.
Ebola broke out 13 months ago in Kikwit, Zaire, about 300 miles
southeast of Mayibout. Ultimately, 245 people died of the disease in
the Kikwit area, with 316 cases confirmed – a 77 percent fatality
rate.
A single case of ebola was confirmed in Ivory Coast in December. Three
previous Ebola epidemics have occurred in equatorial Africa: in
Yambuku, Zaire, in 1976, and in N’zara, Sudan, in 1976 and again in
1979.
Studies conducted by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute on
Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick, Md. late last year showed that
captive rhesus monkeys could spread the virus to one another through
the air. Autopsies of Kikwit victims by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention revealed that all Ebola victims had colonies of
the virus in their lungs.
Still, there is no evidence that airborne transmission of the virus
has played a significant role in previous human epidemics, or if it
has played any role at all.
WHO has dispatched a three-person team to Makokou, according to Dr.
David Heymann, head of the agency’s emerging disease division in
Geneva.
The WHO team includes a west African veterinarian, a French virologist
and a WHO public information officer. The CDC and the international
Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders), both of which
played pivotal roles in Kikwit, offered their services to Gabon, but
have been declined.
Gabon, which has close ties to the French government, is relying on
French military personnel for disease control efforts. CDC officals
say that there is little immediate concern that this epidemic could
spread outside of Gabon, and particularly to the U.S., because of the
extreme isolation of the area.
Only two European airports (and no U.S. airports) offer flights to
Gabon – Paris and Brussels – and access to Makokou requires
twice-weekly flights from Libreville. No accessible roads service
Mayibout.
James M. Scutero, original proponent of misc.health.aids
misc.health.aids homepage: http://www.panix.com/~jscutero
MISC.HEALTH.AIDS * HIV/AIDS TALK ONLY * NO COMMERCIALS * NO MODERATORS
