Ok, so the CDC has confirmed..and other things!

[Tanja L Davidson]

Anybody remember the 48 hours episode where they were first investigating 
the Reston case?  Didn't the scientist say they were freaked out 
initially after realizing that they had a level 4 filovirus because one 
of the researchers smelled/inhaled the contents of the tube?  I remember 
this fact vividly and their corresponding remarks about how the 
researched who "smelled" the virus was put into the "hot" chamber to see 
if he/she would develop the sypmtoms of the virus.  ie.  they knew it was 
airborne if it was a level four filovirus.

Is my memory shot on this one?


Michael J. Motal (tilion at netcom.com) wrote:
: Vampire Junction (vampires at freenet.ufl.edu) wrote:
: : On Sun, 14 May 1995, chatski carl wrote:

: : As far as a natural host, Richard Preston had a theory that the natural 
: : "host" for Ebola was some cave, since one of the index cases had cut 
: : himself in said cave and very soon after had gotten sick.  Maybe it's 

: Kitum Cave on Mount Elgar on the Kenya/Uganda border is associated with 
: the Marburg virus, NOT Ebola.  Marburg is a member of the filoviruses and 
: closely related to Ebola, but not quite as lethal.  It name comes from 
: the town in Germany where it was first noted. It has also been associated 
: with the bats in the cotton gin, again NOT Ebola.
:  
: As far as reporters going into the area, most transmissions of the virus 
: are from direct contact with the infected patient.  From what I've read, 
: the body fluids of the infected person must come in contact with 
: vulnerable tissues of the uninfected person for there to be a significant 
: risk.  In other words, aspirated water droplets from a coughing/vomiting 
: victim entering the lungs, mucous membranes, or eyes of an uninfected 
: person. Or direct body fluid contact to an uninfected person.  A reporter 
: who does not enter a treatment ward, or does not come into direct contact 
: with a symptomatic patient, would have a low risk of contracting the virus.
:  
: The quarantine is necessary because in developing countries, many people 
: cannot afford, or have no access, to medical care and are instead treated 
: by their families.  This exposes the family members directly to the virus 
: and enhances the risk of transmission from the individual to other 
: members of the family, to members of the extended family (aunts, uncles, 
: cousins, etc.) and then to people outside of the family. In most 
: developed countries, medical treatment is sought in a hospital where, 
: hopefully, isolation procedures would limit the exposure only to the 
: necessary caregivers.  And in the midst of the HIV epidemic, protection 
: against contact with a patient's bodily fluids is standard and would 
: further lessen the likelihood of transmission to the caregivers.

: -Michael
: -- 
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: tilion at netcom.com

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