Virus in Angola

welsh

welsh

Junkmaster
Don't know if you folks heard about this but it seems the Marlburg virus is out-

Global Health
Deadly Marburg Outbreak Expands in Angola
by Richard Knox

Marburg virus under the microscope. CDC

All Things Considered, April 1, 2005 · An outbreak of deadly Marburg virus in Angola has sickened 140 people, killing 132 -- most of them young children, according to the World Health Organization. International health organizations are rushing personnel and equipment to the war-ravaged country, but WHO experts say they expect the Marburg toll to get much bigger.

A Primer on Marburg Virus

Marburg is a rare, severe form of hemorrhagic fever closely related to the Ebola virus. In both diseases, victims bleed to death, often from every orifice and every organ. Few infections are as deadly.

Symptoms of Marburg

Marburg is caused by an animal-borne RNA virus of the filovirus family. After incubating for five to 21 days, the disease comes on suddenly with symptoms including fever, chills, headache and muscular pain or tenderness.

Around the fifth day, victims may develop a rash of discolored spots and raised bumps, especially around their chest, back and stomach. Those infected may also experience nausea, vomiting, chest pain, sore throat, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Symptoms become increasingly severe and may include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure and multi-organ dysfunction.

Because many of the signs and symptoms of Marburg are similar to those of other infectious diseases, such as malaria or typhoid fever, diagnosing the disease can be difficult, especially if only a single case is involved.

Treatment

There is no specific treatment for Marburg. But health experts say patients should be hospitalized, their electrolytes and fluids should be balanced, their oxygen intake and blood pressure maintained, and any lost blood and clotting factors should be replaced.

Previous Outbreaks

Marburg was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, sickening a total of 37 people. Those who became ill included lab workers, medical personnel and family members who'd cared for them.

The first people infected had been exposed to African green monkeys imported from Uganda or their tissues. In Marburg, the monkeys had been imported for research.

Recorded cases of Marburg are rare and have appeared in only a few locations:

1975: A traveler -- most likely exposed in Zimbabwe -- becomes ill in Johannesburg, South Africa, passing the virus to his traveling companion and a nurse.

1980: A patient is infected in western Kenya, not far from the Ugandan source of the monkeys implicated in the 1967 outbreak. The patient’s attending physician in Nairobi becomes the second case.

1987: A young man who had traveled extensively in Kenya, including western Kenya, becomes ill and dies.

1998: An outbreak in Durba, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is linked to workers in a gold mine. After that outbreak subsides, sporadic cases occur in the same region.

Source: CDC Special Pathogens Branch
Click to expand...

For more- Deadly Marburg Outbreak Expands in Angola
 
Tell me about it, we already have two cases from people that came from Uìge, in Angola. We have hundreds of Angolans in my city, but most of them, except for the sons and daughters of the elite, don`t have the money to go home for the easter vacation, so we`re sort of safe I guess.

It`s spreading fast, they really need the help of the international community, since the government there is constituted mostly by corrupt leeches that are beyond incompetent...
 
THe thing about these viruses is that usually the first people to get hit are the medical workers who are regularly in contact with blood.

But considering it has an incubation period of five days its rather possible that it could go to Europe, North America or anywhere else.
 
Five to twenty one days, Welsh.

I suggest we nuke Angola. No, just kidding.

We only need to nuke Japan.
 
Now About we nuke Angola and then, later, Japan...When they begin to feel safe :evil:
 
Yeah, I mean, this virus is clearly a biological weapon. We need to react pre-emptively.

It the incubation period that make's it so deadly. With a situation like this we need to quarantine areas with know cases via a shutdown of air traffic going in or coming out for one month. I think that's pretty much the only way to be sure. That, or lift off and nuke the entire site from orbit. :wink:
 
Looks like this bug is getting worse. Spreading around to other areas and creating panic.

This is terrible.


Marburg virus death toll hits 180
205 cases have been reported
Friday, April 8, 2005 Posted: 5:30 PM EDT (2130 GMT)

(CNN) -- The World Health Organization is investigating an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in northwestern Angola, it said Friday.

As of Thursday, 205 cases of Marburg hemorrhagic fever had been reported in the country, and 180 of those affected had died. Seven provinces have been affected, the latest being Zaire province, where six cases have been reported, the WHO said in its most recent update.

"It is a very, very dangerous and lethal virus in human beings," Mike Ryan, director of alert and response operations for WHO, told CNN. The virus -- in the same family as the Ebola virus -- spreads through blood and body fluid contact.

In this case -- only the second natural outbreak of the virus -- there is evidence it has been amplified through ineffective containment in hospitals, Ryan said.

According to WHO, the first large outbreak under natural conditions occurred from 1998-2000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some Angolans have taken their anxiety out on health workers.

Mobile surveillance teams in Uige were forced to suspend operations Thursday when vehicles were attacked and damaged by residents, the WHO said Friday. "As the situation has not improved, no surveillance teams were operational today in the province."

In addition, organization staff in Uige were notified Friday of several workers' fatalities, but teams were unable to investigate the causes of death or collect the bodies for burial. Discussions "to find urgent solutions" were under way with provincial authorities, the WHO said.

A WHO worker in Angola told CNN that health workers had been killed by residents who erroneously believed the workers were exposing them to the virus.

"The dramatic symptoms of Marburg hemorrhagic fever and its frequent fatality are resulting in a high level of fear, which is further aggravated by a lack of public understanding about the disease," the organization said. "Moreover, because the disease has no cure, hospitalization is not associated with a favorable outcome, and confidence in the medical care system has been eroded."

WHO said it has seen similar reactions during outbreaks of the Ebola virus. Two medical anthropologists are in Uige and will be joined by experts in social mobilization from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

Through the United Nations, WHO launched an appeal Friday for $2.4 million to support the emergency response to the outbreak. In addition, the organization has established an international network of laboratories to help in the investigation of this and other viral hemorrhagic fevers. They include two portable field laboratories in Angola.

"Sophisticated laboratory studies of the virus may help shed some light on certain unusual features of the outbreak, including the high fatality rate and the overwhelming concentration of initial cases in children under the age of five years," said a WHO statement.

A longer-term objective, the organization said, is to determine where the Marburg virus hides in nature between outbreaks. Studies of the Angolan virus may offer some clues.
Click to expand...
 
There is a diference between ignorance and stupidity. Those people spunded ignorant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top