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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
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 Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:09 pm Ebola-like Disease Kills 253 People |
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| Quote: |
Ebola-like disease kills 253 people
Experts expect containment of record Marburg outbreak
LUANDA, Angola (Reuters) -- The death toll in Angola's Marburg epidemic has topped 250, but medical experts said on Thursday they were confident the world's worst outbreak of the killer virus would soon be reined in.
At least 253 people have died of the rare Ebola-like disease from a total of 273 known cases since late last year, according to a document released late on Wednesday by the Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO).
All the cases in this outbreak have originated from the northern Uige province, where Angolan authorities, the WHO and non-governmental organizations are trying to trace more than 500 people who are thought to have had contact with the victims.
Some 48 percent of known cases have been among children.
Marburg is a rare hemorrhagic fever which is transmitted through bodily fluids including sweat, saliva and tears. Most people usually die within days after massive bleeding.
The previous record death toll from a Marburg outbreak was 123 people who were killed in an epidemic in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998-2000.
Medical experts said they believed that official efforts to educate people about the virus and how to prevent transmission were helping to turn the tide against the disease.
"It's beginning now to come under control. Once people get the message about how to prevent this, then that should begin to take effect and I think there's some suggestion that's beginning to happen," Tom Ksiazek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Reuters, echoing the view of the WHO and the government.
Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Workers in protective gear wait to disinfect the hospital in the northern Angola province of Uige.
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zero
Rear Admiral
Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 4566
Location: Texas
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| Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:13 pm |
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well that sucks.
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Fri Apr 29, 2005 11:57 am |
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Well, my mum's a microbiologist, so I have a distinct advantage over all of you  .
Sounds horrible though. The only thing I'm glad of is that it's not bird flu. Then we'd all be screwed.
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Starbuck
faster...
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 8715
Location: between chaos and melody
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| Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:59 pm |
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Isn't ebola the one where you bleed out?
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Dirt
Exercise Boy
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 2086
Location: a tree
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| Fri Apr 29, 2005 4:15 pm |
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| madlilnerd wrote: | Well, my mum's a microbiologist, so I have a distinct advantage over all of you .
Sounds horrible though. The only thing I'm glad of is that it's not bird flu. Then we'd all be screwed. |
My daddy is oooooooone too,
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:32 am |
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| madlilnerd wrote: | Well, my mum's a microbiologist, so I have a distinct advantage over all of you .
Sounds horrible though. The only thing I'm glad of is that it's not bird flu. Then we'd all be screwed. |
It would probably be just as bad except the autorities clamp down on it so quickly because it's so deadly. There are three known strains that affect humans, and the nicest one has a 50% killing rate. The worst is about 90%. I can't remember what one Marburg is though, I'll find out and mention it here.
Ebola is the one that you bleed out. Basically you liquify inside yourself and then the blood (with the virus packed in it) is got rid out so that it can "hopefully" find a new host to take over. There was actually almost an outbreak in the US.
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Seven of Nine
Sammie's Mammy
Joined: 16 Jun 2001
Posts: 7871
Location: North East England
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| Sat Apr 30, 2005 11:26 am |
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There's the three Ebola strains, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Reston, and Marburg, which is related but is not classed as an ebola virus.
Of those, if I were to get any of them, I'd want it to be Ebola Reston, which is fatal to monkeys but doesn't appear to do much to humans. the other three have between a 50% and 90% fatality rate, and cause your organs to turn to mush. Not nice.
I used to be really clued up on Ebola, but haven't checked much on it recently. I should get around to updating my site eventually
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