At 09:07 AM 6/03/00 -0800, Robert B. wrote:
>the "hype" about there being no defense against
>Ebola,
seems to be just that - hype. Actually, Ebola can be contained easily by
standard hygeine. It was spread catastrophically in a few spots in Africa
because medical facilities were rudimentary, instruments unsterilized, ill
patients allowed to come into free direct contact with the uninfected. Even
then, `the risk of the child of a person infected with Ebola virus
developing haemorrhagic fever is only 4 per cent... Most of the spread of
infection [in Nzara and Maridi in the Sudan] was directly attributable to
contaminated medical equipment. The risk of infection by superficial
contact - even sleeping in the same room as the patient - was relatively
low. To date, every outbreak of Ebola has been contained by the
introduction of appropriate sterilization of instruments and barrier
nursing' (pp. 10-11, Alan G. Baxter, GERM WARFARE, Sydney: Allen&Unwin, 2000).
Damien
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