Ιός Έμπολα

[Unabomber]

Απορω που δεν εγραψε οτι θα πεσει και ο ουρανος στο κεφαλι μας…… 

 

 

Κλασσικη τρομοκρατια απο Ελληνικα ΜΜΕ…. 

 

 

 

On topic…..

 

 

Ebola: Is bushmeat behind the outbreak?

 

Bushmeat is believed to be the origin of the current Ebola outbreak. The first victim's family hunted bats, which carry the virus. Could the practice of eating bushmeat, which is popular across Africa, be responsible for the current crisis? 

The origin has been traced to a two-year-old child from the village of Gueckedou in south-eastern Guinea, an area where batmeat is frequently hunted and eaten. 

The infant, dubbed Child Zero, died on 6 December 2013.  The child's family stated they had hunted two species of bat which carry the Ebola virus.

Bushmeat or wild animal meat covers any animal that is killed for consumption, principally chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats and monkeys. It can even include porcupines, rats and snakes. 

In some remote areas it is a necessary source of food - in others it has become a delicacy. 

In Africa's Congo Basin, people eat an estimated five million tonnes of bushmeat per year, according to the Centre of International Forestry Research. 

Ideal hosts

But some of these animals can harbour deadly diseases. Bats carry a whole range of viruses and studies have shown that some species of fruit bats can harbour Ebola. 

Via their droppings or fruit they have touched, bats can then in turn infect other non-human primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees. For them, like us, this can be deadly. Bats on the other hand can escape from it unscathed. This makes them an ideal host for the virus. 

Cooked or smoked bushmeat is not usually harmful

Exactly how the virus "spills over" into humans is still not clear, says Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham. There's often an intermediate species involved, like primates such as chimpanzees, but evidence shows people can get the virus directly from bats, he told BBC Inside Science. 

But it is difficult for the virus to jump the species barrier from animals into humans, he adds. The virus first has to "somehow gain access to the cells in which it can replicate" by contact with infected blood. 

Most people buy bushmeat from markets once it has already been cooked, so it is those hunting or preparing the raw meat that are at highest risk. 

The current outbreak shows that, however difficult or rare it is, infection is clearly possible - though it must be remembered that each further infection, from Child Zero to today, has been caused by contact with an infected person. 

Bitten and scratched

There has been talk of banning bushmeat, but that may simply drive it underground, experts have previously warned. 

Hunting bushmeat is also a longstanding tradition, explains Dr Marcus Rowcliffe from the Zoological Society of London,

"It's a meat-eating society - there's a feeling that if you do not have meat every day, you haven't properly eaten. Although you can get other forms of meat, there's traditionally very little livestock production."

Many West Africans eat bushmeat 

It is sold in markets across the region 

More than 100,000 bats are thought to be eaten in Ghana each year

In Ghana, for example, currently unaffected by the outbreak, fruit bats are widely hunted. To understand how people interact with this particular type of bushmeat, researchers surveyed nearly 600 Ghanaians about their practices relating to bats.

The study found that hunters used several different techniques to kill their prey including shooting, netting, scavenging and catapulting. All hunters reported handling live bats, which often meant they came into contact with blood and in some instances were bitten and scratched. 

'Healthy food'

These hunters are therefore the most at risk of contracting viruses present in bats, explains one of the authors, Dr Olivier Restif from the University of Cambridge. 

The work also uncovered that the scale of the bat bushmeat trade in Ghana was much higher than previously thought, with more than 100,000 bats killed and sold every year. 

"People who eat bat bushmeat are rarely aware of any potential risk associated with consumption. They tend to see it as healthy food," he told the BBC's Health Check programme. This survey was carried out before the current outbreak but the team says that understanding the perceived risks could help control future epidemics. 

Fruit bats are believed to be a major carrier of the Ebola virus but they do not show symptoms

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

It's not a disease spread by eating bushmeat. As far as we know it originated in one spillover event from one bat to a child in Guinea”

Prof Melissa LeachUniversity of Sussex

While there is a risk, this study exemplifies that it is low. The estimate of more than 100,000 bats consumed has not resulted in a single case of Ebola in Ghana.

Researchers have also monitored populations of bats to test for Ebola and found very few animals with detectable levels of the virus. Since the first recorded outbreak in 1976 there have been only 30 single spillover events from animals into humans, according to new research which has mapped all previous outbreaks. 

But given Ebola's animal origin, it is perhaps not surprising that bushmeat has been cited as a core danger associated with the outbreak.

An opinion piece in the New Scientist said: "The Ebola outbreak is an opportunity to clamp down on a practice which both causes disease outbreaks and empties forests of wildlife. At a minimum, governments should zealously enforce bans on the hunting and consumption of bats and apes."

Bushmeat is often smoked before eaten or sold at market

The Washington Post questioned "why West Africans keep hunting and eating bushmeat despite Ebola concerns". 

Media coverage like this is not only unhelpful but dangerous, warns Prof Melissa Leach, an anthropologist at the University of Sussex.

"It's not a disease spread by eating bushmeat. As far as we know it originated in one spillover event from one bat to a child in Guinea.

"Subsequent to that it's been a human-to-human disease. People are more vulnerable to Ebola by interacting with people than by eating bats."

She says negative coverage of bushmeat "has deterred people from understanding the real risk of infection".

However, despite the current outbreak, the very fact that bats are carriers means there is always a risk of further infection.

Dr Rowcliff says: "For any given contact the risk is quite low but given the scale of contact it is inevitable that there will be new emergences of Ebola or potentially other diseases that the bats harbour. The risks may be low but the consequences are severe as we are seeing at the moment."

This view is echoed by Dr Restif, who argues that because the world's population is expanding, close contract with wildlife will increase, which is often "the first driver of these events".

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29604204

[pitogiro]

[Unabomber]

  Φωτογραφίες από την άσκηση ετοιμότητας για πιθανό κρούσμα Έμπολα στη χώρα μας

 

 

Οι ειδικοί παραμένουν σε ετοιμότητα, καθώς το ενδεχόμενο να έρθει και στην Ελλάδα κρούσμα του ιού παραμένει πάντα ανοικτό

Τα καλά αντανακλαστικά του συστήματος υγείας, και ιδίως του Εθνικού Κέντρου Επιχειρήσεων Υγείας (ΕΚΕΠΥ), του Κέντρου Ελέγχου και Πρόληψης Νοσημάτων (ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ) και του ΕΚΑΒ, σε ό,τι αφορά στη διαχείριση πιθανού κρούσμα Έμπολα, αποδείχτηκαν με την άσκηση ετοιμότητας που πραγματοποιήθηκε την περασμένη Παρασκευή.

 

Το υπουργείο Υγείας έδωσε σήμερα στη δημοσιότητα φωτογραφικά στιγμιότυπα από την άσκηση ετοιμότητας, ωστόσο οι αρμόδιες υγειονομικές υπηρεσίες το τελευταίο δίμηνο έχουν αντιμετωπίσει -χωρίς κάμερες και προβολείς αλλά με την ίδια επιτυχία- έξι περιστατικά που αφορούσαν σε πιθανό κρούσμα του θανατηφόρου ιού του αιμορραγικού πυρετού.

 

Οι ειδικοί παραμένουν σε ετοιμότητα, καθώς το ενδεχόμενο να έρθει και στην Ελλάδα κρούσμα του ιού παραμένει πάντα ανοικτό, σύμφωνα με την πρόεδρο του ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ κ. Τζένη Κρεμαστινού, με ζητούμενο για όλο το σύστημα υγείας να γίνει σωστά η διαχείρισή του.

 

Η άσκηση έγινε στη 1 το μεσημέρι της Παρασκευής, περίπου μία ώρα προτού το νοσοκομείο μπει σε γενική εφημερία. Ένα ασθενοφόρο πέρασε με ταχύτητα την είσοδο του «Αμαλία Φλέμινγκ».

 

 

 

Οδηγός και διασώστες φορούσαν ειδικές λευκές στολές και φυσικά με μάσκες. Σήμανε συναγερμός και ο «ασθενής» που πιθανολογείτο ότι φέρει τον ιό του αιμορραγικού πυρετού οδηγήθηκε στον ειδικό, απομονωμένο χώρο ο οποίος προορίζεται για τους ασθενείς με Έμπολα.

 

Το προσωπικό του νοσοκομείου και οι επιστήμονες του ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ και του ΕΚΕΠΥ έκαναν ό,τι θα έκαναν σε περίπτωση πραγματικού περιστατικού. Μετά το τέλος της διακομιδής του «ύποπτου»  περιστατικού, οι στολές και ο εξοπλισμός στάλθηκαν για απολύμανση.

 

 

 

Αφαίρεση ατομικών μέτρων προστασίας από την νοσηλεύτρια νοσηλείας με παρακολούθηση από το ζευγάρι της με την διαδικασία της διπλής εντολής.

 

 

 

Oμάδα υποδοχής στον χώρο καραντίνας (ιατρός- νοσηλεύτρια- απολυμαντής).

 

 

Ασφαλής προετοιμασία δείγματος αίματος σε συσκευασία τριών κυτίων.

 

Διαδικασία απολύμανσης έξω από τον χώρο καραντίνας για τους διασώστες.

 

Ατομικά μέτρα προστασίας υγειονομικού προσωπικού ΕΚΑΒ - Διπλή προστασία προσώπου και μάσκα με φίλτρο αναπνοής -μεταφορά με ΕΚΑΒ.

 

Ατομικά μέτρα προστασίας υγειονομικού προσωπικού - Διπλή προστασία προσώπου και μάσκα με φίλτρο αναπνοής.

 

 

http://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/419867/fotografies-me-epituhia-i-askisi-etoimotitas-gia-pithano-krousma-ebola-sti-hora-mas/

[trayban]

Ένα άρθρο για την οπλοποιηση του ιού

Evaluating Ebola as a Biological Weapon

Security Weekly

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 - 03:00 Text Size

 

By Scott Stewart

 

Over the past few weeks, I've had people at speaking engagements ask me if I thought the Islamic State or some other militant group is using Ebola as a biological weapon, or if such a group could do so in the future. Such questions and concerns are not surprising given the intense media hype that surrounds the disease, even though only one person has died from Ebola out of the three confirmed cases in the United States. The media hype about the threat posed by the Islamic State to the United States and the West is almost as bad. Both subjects of all this hype were combined into a tidy package on Oct. 20, when the Washington Post published an editorial by columnist Mark Thiessen in which he claimed it would be easy for a group such as the Islamic State to use Ebola in a terrorist attack. Despite Thiessen's claims, using Ebola as a biological warfare agent is much more difficult than it might appear at first blush.

 

The 2014 Outbreak

 

In the past, there have been several outbreaks of Ebola in Africa. Countries included Sudan, Uganda, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and several comparatively small outbreaks occurred in Gabon as well. In most cases, people who handled or ate animals infected with the disease started the outbreaks. "Bushmeat," or portions of roasted meat from a variety of wild animals, is considered by many to be a delicacy in Africa, and in a continent where hunger is widespread, it is also a necessity for many hungry people. After several months of medical investigations, epidemiologists believe the current outbreak most likely began when a two-year-old child in Guinea touched or perhaps ate part of an infected animal such as a bat or monkey.

 

The source of the disease means it is highly unlikely that some malevolent actor intentionally caused the latest outbreak. Besides the fact that the current outbreak's cause has been identified as a natural one, even if a transnational militant group such as the Islamic State was able to somehow develop an Ebola weapon, it would have chosen to deploy the weapon against a far more desirable target than a small village in Guinea. We would have seen the militants use their weapon in a location such as New York, Paris or London, or against their local enemies in Syria and Iraq.

 

As far as intent goes, there is very little doubt that such a group would employ a biological weapon. As we noted last month when there was increased talk about the Islamic State possibly weaponizing plague for a biological attack, terrorist attacks are intended to have a psychological impact that outweighs the physical damage they cause. The Islamic State itself has a long history of conducting brutal actions to foster panic.

 

In 2006 and 2007, the Islamic State's predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, included large quantities of chlorine in vehicle bombs deployed against U.S. and Iraqi troops in an attempt to produce mass casualties. The explosives in the vehicle bombs killed more people than the chlorine did, and after several unsuccessful attempts, al Qaeda in Iraq gave up on its chlorine bombings because the results were not worth the effort. Al Qaeda in Iraq also included chemical artillery rounds in improvised explosive devices used in attacks against American troops in Iraq on several occasions. Again, these attacks failed to produce mass casualties. Finally, according to human rights organizations, the Islamic State appears to have recently used some artillery rounds containing mustard gas against its enemies in Syria; the group presumably recovered the rounds from a former Saddam-era chemical weapons facility in Iraq or from Syrian stockpiles.

 

The problem, then, lies not with the Islamic State's intent but instead with its capability to obtain and weaponize the Ebola virus. Creating a biological weapon is far more difficult than using a chemical such as chlorine or manufactured chemical munitions. Contrary to how the media frequently portrays them, biological weapons are not easy to obtain, they are not easy to deploy effectively and they do not always cause mass casualties.

 

The Difficulty of Weaponization

 

Ebola and terrorism are not new. Nor is the possibility of terrorist groups using the Ebola virus in an attack. As we have previously noted, the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo attempted to obtain the Ebola virus as part of its biological warfare program. The group sent a medical team to Africa under the pretext of being aid workers with the intent of obtaining samples of the virus. It failed in that mission, but even if it had succeeded, the group would have faced the challenge of getting the sample back to its biological warfare laboratory in Japan. The Ebola virus is relatively fragile. Its lifetime on dry surfaces outside of a host is only a couple of hours, and while some studies have shown that the virus can survive on surfaces for days when still in bodily fluids, this requires ideal conditions that would be difficult to replicate during transport.

 

If the group had been able to get the virus back to its laboratory, it would have then faced the challenge of reproducing the Ebola virus with enough volume to be used in a large-scale biological warfare attack, similar to its failed attacks on Tokyo and other Japanese cities in which the group sprayed thousands of gallons of botulinum toxin and Anthrax spores. Reproducing the Ebola virus would present additional challenges because it is an extremely dangerous virus to work with. It has infected researchers, even when they were working in laboratories with advanced biosafety measures in place. Although Aum Shinrikyo had a large staff of trained scientists and a state-of-the-art biological weapons laboratory, it was still unable to effectively weaponize the virus.

 

The challenges Aum Shinrikyo's biological weapons program faced would be multiplied for the Islamic State. Aum Shinrikyo operatives were given a great deal of operational freedom until their plans were discovered after the 1995 sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway. (The group's previous biological weapons attacks were so unsuccessful that nobody knew they had been carried out until after its members were arrested and its chemical and biological weapons factories were raided.) Unlike the Japanese cult, the Islamic State's every move is under heavy scrutiny by most of the world's intelligence and security agencies. This means jihadist operatives would have far more difficulty assembling the personnel and equipment needed to construct a biological weapons laboratory. Since randomly encountering an infected Ebola patient would be unreliable, the group would have to travel to a country impacted by the outbreak. This would be a difficult task for the group to complete without drawing attention to itself. Furthermore, once group members reached the infected countries, they would have to enter quarantined areas of medical facilities, retrieve the samples and then escape the country unnoticed, since they could not count on randomly encountering an infected Ebola patient.

 

Even if Islamic State operatives were somehow able to accomplish all of this -- without killing themselves in the process -- Ebola is not an ideal biological warfare vector. The virus is hard to pass from person to person. In fact, on average, its basic reproductive rate (the average amount of people that are infected by an Ebola patient) is only between one and two people. There are far more infectious diseases such as measles, which has a basic reproductive rate of 12-18, or smallpox, which has a basic reproductive rate of five to seven. Even HIV, which is only passed via sexual contact or intravenous blood transmission, has a basic reproductive rate of two to five.

 

Ebola's Weakness as a Weapon

 

The Ebola disease is also somewhat slow to take effect, and infected individuals do not become symptomatic and contagious for an average of 8-10 days. The disease's full incubation period can last anywhere from two to 21 days. As a comparison, influenza, which can be transmitted as quickly as three days after being contracted, can be spread before symptoms begin showing. This means that an Ebola attack would take longer to spread and would be easier to contain because infected people would be easier to identify.

 

Besides the fact that Ebola can only be passed through the bodily fluids of a person showing symptoms at the time, the virus in those bodily fluids must also somehow bypass the protection of a person's skin. The infectious fluid must enter the body through a cut or abrasion, or come into contact with the mucus membranes in the eyes, nose or mouth. This is different from more contagious viruses like measles and smallpox, which are airborne viruses and do not require any direct contact or transfer of bodily fluids. Additionally, the Ebola virus is quite fragile and sensitive to light, heat and low-humidity environments, and bleach and other common disinfectants can kill it. This means it is difficult to spread the virus by contaminating surfaces with it. The only way to infect a large amount of people with Ebola would be to spray them with a fluid containing the virus, something that would be difficult to do and easily detectable.

 

Thiessen's piece suggested that the Islamic State might implement an attack strategy of infecting suicide operatives with Ebola and then having them blow themselves up in a crowded place, spraying people with infected bodily fluids. One problem with this scenario is that it would be extremely difficult to get an infected operative from the group's laboratory to the United States without being detected. As we have discussed elsewhere, jihadist groups have struggled to get operatives to the West to conduct conventional terrorist attacks using guns and bombs, a constraint that would also affect their ability to deploy a biological weapon.

 

Even if a hostile group did mange to get an operative in place, it would still face several important obstacles. By the time Ebola patients are highly contagious, they are normally very ill and bedridden with high fever, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, meaning they are not strong enough to walk into a crowded area. The heat and shock of the suicide device's explosion would likely kill most of the virus. Anyone close enough to be exposed to the virus would also likely be injured by the blast and taken to a hospital, where they would then be quarantined and treated for the virus.

 

Biological weapons look great in the movies, but they are difficult and expensive to develop in real life. That is why we have rarely seen them used in terrorist attacks. As we have noted for a decade now, jihadists can kill far more people with far less expense and effort by utilizing traditional terrorist tactics, which makes the threat of a successful attack using the Ebola virus extremely unlikely.

[Daemonos]

Τελικά σε τι στάδιο βρίσκεται? κάτι άκουσα οτι βρήκαν το εμβόλιο κατά?

[tarantules]

[Unabomber]

Ο Κιμ Γιονγκ Ουν κλείνει τα σύνορα της Βόρειας Κορέας γιατί φοβάται τον Εμπολα! :-D

 

Απαγορεύει την είσοδο σε τουρίστες εξαιτίας του ιού

Η Πιονγκγιανγκ ανακοίνωσε ότι από αύριο Παρασκευή τα σύνορα της Βόρειας Κορέας θα κλείσουν για τον διεθνή τουρισμό, σε μια προσπάθεια αναχαίτισης, πιθανής εισόδου του ιού Εμπολα στη χώρα.

 

 

 

Την απόφαση γνωστοποίησε το ταξιδιωτικό πρακτορείο Koryo Tours, ένα από τα λίγα ανεξάρτητα, που διοργανώνουν ταξίδια στη Βόρεια Κορέα.

 

«Λάβαμε πληροφορίες από τους συνεργάτες μας στην Πιονγκγιάνγκ, ότι η χώρα, από αύριο, δεν θα δέχεται διεθνείς τουρίστες και θα κλείσει τα σύνορά της εξαιτίας της απειλής του Εμπόλα» ανέφερε ο εκπρόσωπος του Koyo Tours και συνέχισε: «Δεν είναι γνωστό ακόμα, πόσο θα κρατήσει ο αποκλεισμός, αλλά ελπίζουμε ότι τα προγραμματισμένα ταξίδια μας για το Νοέμβρη και το Δεκέμβρη θα γίνουν κανονικά». Τέλος γνωστοποιήθηκε ότι η εταιρία θα αποζημιώσει πλήρως όσους είχαν κλείσει εισιτήριο για τις επόμενες ημέρες.

 

Η πληροφορία ανακοινώθηκε και από άλλο κινεζικό πρακτορείο, το Young Pioneer Tours, του οποίου εκπρόσωπος, δήλωσε πως, σύμφωνα με τους ταξιδιωτικούς του συνδέσμους στη Βόρεια Κορέα, τα σύνορα θα μείνουν κλειστά, μέχρι να εξαλειφθεί ο φόβος για εξάπλωση του Εμπόλα στη χώρα.

 

http://www.protothema.gr/world/article/420725/o-kim-giong-oun-kleinei-ta-sunora-tis-voreias-koreas-giati-fovatai-ton-ebola/

[Porg]

Σε ποιον θα κλείσει τα ήδη κλειστά σύνορα;

Ούτε η Παπαρήγα δεν πάει εκεί για τουρισμό

[Unabomber]

Στους τουριστες.... αχχααχχααχ :devil:

[Επισκέπτης]

Τελικά σε τι στάδιο βρίσκεται? κάτι άκουσα οτι βρήκαν το εμβόλιο κατά?

Ναι το βρήκαν κάτι εταιρίες αλλά το κρατάνε κρυφό για να κονομησουν κανένα φραγκο

 

[κοντραρω τον porg]

[Porg]

Υπάρχει εδώ και δεκαετίες το εμβόλιο για τον Εμπόλα

Δυστυχώς δεν μπορώ να πω περισσότερα τώρα

[Muchacho]

Στους τουριστες.... αχχααχχααχ :devil:

Και ομως υπαρχουν τουριστες...

[michael92]

Βασικά διακοπές στην Βόρεια Κορέα τα σπάνε και καραλένε. Βλέπεις ένα τελείως διαφορετικό τοπίο, καμία διαφήμιση ή graffiti στους δρόμους, καθόλου βιτρίνες μόνο κομμουνιστικές προπαγανδιστικές ταμπέλες. Είναι άλλη φάση σαν εμπειρία.

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=821098

[doctorkostis]

Επειδη ειδα πιο πανω τις εντυπωσιακες ομολογουμενως φωτο απο το κεντρο υποδοχης, εχω να πω οτι η πραγματικη κατασταση ειναι τουλαχιστον αστεια.

Δεν υπαρχει κανενα οργανωμενο σχεδιο, δεν υπαρχει εκπαιδευμενο προσωπικο, δεν υπαρχουν ειδικοι γιατροι υποδοχης, το ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ δεν ξερει πως να οργανωσει το θεμα. Το μονο που υπαρχει ειναι καθησυχαστικα δελτια τυπου.

Το κεντρο υποδοχης στο Φλεμινγκ εκανε επιτυχως το τεστ, αλλα την επομενη μερα που αναφερθηκε πιθανο κρουσμα, εγιναν ολα λαθος. Ενας Ελληνας ναυτικος με πυρετο που προσφατα ηρθε απο Νιγηρια ανεδειξε την προχειροτητα. Τον παρελαβε το ΕΚΑΒ χωρις κανενα μετρο προστασιας, μπηκε στα επειγοντα χυμα, τον εξετασαν, του πηραν αιμα. Αν οντως ειχε εμπολα θα ειχαν εκτεθει πανω απο 15 ατομα εκεινο το βραδυ.

Απο την επομενη μερα το υπουργειο ανακοινωσε τη δημιουργια και αλλων κεντρων, ενα εκ των οποιων στο νοσοκομειο που δουλευω. Απο την ανακοινωση ως την οργανωση ομως υπαρχει τεραστια αποσταση. Κανεις δεν εχει εκπαιδευτει, κανεις δεν ξερει πως να ντυθει με σωστο τροπο, κανεις δεν ξερει ποιος θα υποδεχτει τον ασθενη σε περιπτωση κρουσματος. Ο ειδικευομενος που εφημερευει? Γιατρος του ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ? Η νοσηλευτρια που ειναι βαρδια?

Γενικα, κλαφτα.

[stergiosL2]

Νομιζω πως ο θεος κατεβασε το plague inc απο το google play και λιωνει .....