Forget Ebola-what about the flu?

[Giovanni Maga]

In article <3htmid$p4s at ixnews2.ix.netcom.com>, squan at ix.netcom.com (Steve
Quan) wrote:

> Just your pesky amateur again.  I'm wondering about all the fuss over 
> Ebola.  We all know I'm not a scientist and may be way off base here - 
> But, the little I've read implies that Ebola is not airborne(except for 
> the type that took out the monkeys -and only the monkeys- in The Hot 
> Zone).  So, as horrible and deadly as it is, doesn't that make it more 
> difficult to "catch?"  I was wondering if it isn't more likely that the 
> next big threat would be more flu-like.  Isn't that a virus that mutates 
> every year?  Given enough time couldn't it mutate into something 
> really new? Added to the enormous amount of modern travel it would 
> certainly spread quickly.
> 
> So, am I even close?  Thanks for your patience.
> 
> -Mo Quan

Ok, I think that this big interest about Ebola triggered by that book (hot
zone) is due to the fact that it is quite a new virus and so it is poorly
known. Even I am speaking about Filoviruses just knowing what is written on
virology books. Anyway, I do not think that the efforts spent by the
researchers in this field could be comparable to the ones spent about
influenza viruses (I am referring to a quantitative point of view, no
doubts about the quality of the research), since, as you pointed out, these
viruses are epidemiologically much more relevant than Filoviruses. But
still, Filoviruses *are* extremely deadly and the natural reservoirs as
well as many other aspects of their life cycle *are not* yet
understood...so we must give the necessary attention to this etiological
agent of such a severe desease, in order to avoid its undesired spreading
out of those countries in which it is probably endemic and, in perspective,
in order to try to eradicate the infection even there.
Don't worry, next year we'll have the right anti-flu vaccine again.
G.Maga.
maga at vetbio.unizh.ch