Ebola

[sfs]

I'm glad to see there's a robust response to the Sierra Leone outbreak. Checking the Wikipedia entry, this one is the worst in terms of absolute numbers of cases and deaths and above 50% fatalities per infected population.

I'd read in the past that a wildfire outbreak was unlikely because Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers kill so quickly and aren't spread so easily. The thought of a mutation which would facilitate transmission is rather disconcerting. It's good to know that geneticists are working on the strains and keeping tabs on them.

And I have a connection to Pardis. I was in Tehran the same time she was born there. (She's cute btw.)

Our guys are back home now. It sounds very grim there.

 

[USincognito]

Our guys are back home now. It sounds very grim there.

Glad to hear that. Outbreaks don't get as much airtime as they deserve, and when they keep showing up in the news (in the ticker or reports) for weeks on end, that's not a good sign.

 

[juvenissun]

My intention was to change the subject away from evolution to something unrelated, so I wasn't actually talking about evolution at all. But since you bring it up . . . The only reason to use evolution as a tool is because you think it's more or less right. You can use a microscope as a tool to tell whether someone has malaria, but it only makes sense to do so if you think microscopes reveal the parasites that cause the disease; you'd be insane to test for malaria with a microscope if you thought malaria was caused by bad air.

While I agree with what you said, I like to make the word "right" a little bit more clear. Evolution is a "right" tool because it works, not because it is true. The intrinsic concept of evolution is not even right on a long term (millions of years) basis. We do not know what was the Ebola virus thousand years ago, nor what Ebola virus would do thousands of years later.

Sorry to go off track on this thread while I replied to some other's comments.

 

[mzungu]

Good for you and your colleagues, sfs!

God calls scientists into the lab, just as He calls preachers into the pulpit, does He not?

God does not call scientists to the lab since all scientists are evil devil worshippers who gave us Thalidomine and changed Pluto's designation. Science can take a hike!

 

[USincognito]

On a related note trails for a Dengue fever vaccine have shown promising results.
Sanofi dengue vaccine promising but questions remain - chicagotribune.com

 

[USincognito]

I saw on the news today that cases have topped 1000 and one of the leading African doctors fighting it in Sierra Leone has contracted the disease.
West Africa Ebola outbreak total tops 1,000 | CIDRAP
Ebola doctor in Sierra Leone contracts the virus - CNN.com

 

[sfs]

I saw on the news today that cases have topped 1000 and one of the leading African doctors fighting it in Sierra Leone has contracted the disease.
West Africa Ebola outbreak total tops 1,000 | CIDRAP
Ebola doctor in Sierra Leone contracts the virus - CNN.com

Yes, the situation is getting grimmer. The doctor in question is the director of the hospital we've been working with for years; he's a long-time collaborator. A total of 16 nurses and a driver (and possibly others I've missed) at the hospital have now come down with Ebola; the head nurse was buried a couple of days ago. The nurses went on strike at that time, demanding (quite rationally) that the Ebola unit be moved elsewhere and placed under the control of MSF (Doctors Without Borders).

More disturbing news: an Ebola patient is missing in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, and the first case has been reported in Nigeria -- someplace you really don't want Ebola taking hold.

The international response has really been inadequate, and things are not getting better (except in Guinea, where the outbreak seemed to be under control at last report).

 

[USincognito]

The nurses went on strike at that time, demanding (quite rationally) that the Ebola unit be moved elsewhere and placed under the control of MSF (Doctors Without Borders).

They could find no one better.

More disturbing news: an Ebola patient is missing in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, and the first case has been reported in Nigeria -- someplace you really don't want Ebola taking hold.

The international response has really been inadequate, and things are not getting better (except in Guinea, where the outbreak seemed to be under control at last report).

Holy Guacamole! I just checked the details on that case and they're rather disturbing. How many people on the plane or at the airport were exposed? An outbreak in Lagos would be terrible.

Thanks for starting this thread Steve. I'd been casually noticing the outbreak mentioned on the news the last few weeks, but as the case numbers starting ticking up I started paying more attention.

 

[TLK Valentine]

While I agree with what you said, I like to make the word "right" a little bit more clear. Evolution is a "right" tool because it works, not because it is true. The intrinsic concept of evolution is not even right on a long term (millions of years) basis. We do not know what was the Ebola virus thousand years ago, nor what Ebola virus would do thousands of years later.

Sorry to go off track on this thread while I replied to some other's comments.

If it wasn't true, how come it works?

 

[juvenissun]

If it wasn't true, how come it works?

(I delete my response. I do not want to derail this thread).

 

[Strathos]

If it wasn't true, how come it works?

The only way would be if there was an explanation that explained the observed evidence better. Like how epicycles were replaced with heliocentrism.

The creationist MO though seems to be denying, distorting, and dismissing the evidence instead of trying to explain it.

 

[Gracchus]

(I delete my response. I do not want to derail this thread).

The response left in my in-box was: "Examples are everywhere. You give a "truth" in any_ application_, then you will see it is not true, but it works.
For example, computer can help to speed up a production process."

I think someone has already derailed the thread, so I suspect that, perhaps this wasn't deleted because it was off-topic.

 

[juvenissun]

The response left in my in-box was: "Examples are everywhere. You give a "truth" in any_ application_, then you will see it is not true, but it works.
For example, computer can help to speed up a production process."

I think someone has already derailed the thread, so I suspect that, perhaps this wasn't deleted because it was off-topic.

After several weeks, this ebola thread started to attract my attention. Thanks to sfs.

 

[sfs]

Well, the outbreak has made it to the top headline of CNN, now that an American missionary doctor has contracted Ebola. One piece of positive news is that the hospital director from Sierra Leone, Dr. Khan, is showing signs of recovering. Less positive is that there were riots at that hospital (in Kenema, Sierra Leone), apparently triggered by a former nurse spreading the story that Ebola was introduced by the hospital as a cover to cannibalism there. People are prone to believing all kinds of things, especially when they're scared. (Anyone remember the ritual satanic abuse scare in the U.S.?)

 

[USincognito]

A few hours ago MSNBC (IIRC, I flip around the news channels before coming into work) aired a brief segment about a second American testing positive. She was working with Serving In Mission at the same hospital as Dr. Brantly.
Samaritan’s Purse Doctor Serving in Liberia, West Africa, Tests Positive for Ebola

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/second-american-diagnosed-ebola-liberia-n166066

 

[USincognito]

People are prone to believing all kinds of things, especially when they're scared. (Anyone remember the ritual satanic abuse scare in the U.S.?)

Yeah. And that was in a technologically advanced society with an effective mass medi... oh, wait a minute.

 

[USincognito]

I didn't realize this story had a local connection to me. Dr. Brantly attends church in Fort Worth and the CBS station led their 10pm news with his story.
Welcome | Southside Church of Christ

 

[USincognito]

WaPo story on how the current Ebola strain is different and the cost of the sequencing effort - 5 dead out of 50+ authors.
Ebola virus has mutated during course of outbreak - The Washington Post

 

[sfs]

WaPo story on how the current Ebola strain is different and the cost of the sequencing effort - 5 dead out of 50+ authors.
Ebola virus has mutated during course of outbreak - The Washington Post

Note that it wasn't the sequencing effort per se that cost them their lives -- they were infected by Ebola patients they (or others close to them) were caring for.

 

[USincognito]

Note that it wasn't the sequencing effort per se that cost them their lives -- they were infected by Ebola patients they (or others close to them) were caring for.

Thanks for pointing that out. I should have phrased that last bit better. I read the article as meaning those who worked with the infected collecting the samples, not those working in the lab ex post facto.