Fun facts about the Ebola virus

Hix said:
I was talking about patients that had recovered from the disease. Even in the three Third World countries that are part of this outbreak, the health authorities would prevent anyone contagious from leaving the hosdpital to spread the disease.

My original statement was based upon the premise that recovered patients are still capable of spreading the disease for up to two months after recovery. I haven't heard that this is actually correct.

:p

Hix
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Apparently the statistic now is 4 months. Men who recover are told to not have sex or use a condom for 4 months as it can be spread even in recovered peoples semen. There have been cases in Africa of recovered people infecting partners months later.
 
TeamTapir223 said:
Things seem to be getting out of control.I wonder how this will effect conservation in West Africa.Two of my favorite species call this region of the world home (Hippos and Mandrills)

Team Tapir223
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TT have a serious point here. The African rainforest belt faces serious threats, with political instability making it hard enough for external NGOS such as WCS and ZSL) to operate there anyway. I fear that Ebola has the potential to derail a fair number of insitu conservation projects. Pandrillus and CERCOPAN spring to mind immediately.
 
IanRRobinson said:
TT have a serious point here. The African rainforest belt faces serious threats, with political instability making it hard enough for external NGOS such as WCS and ZSL) to operate there anyway. I fear that Ebola has the potential to derail a fair number of insitu conservation projects. Pandrillus and CERCOPAN spring to mind immediately.
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Pandrillus is based in Nigeria, about 3,000 km away from the Ebola epicentre. This is about the same distance as that between Syria and the Czech Republic, yet I'm not sure that the campaign of Islamic State threatens the future of, say, Pilsen Zoo. Africa is a very large place, and it is important not to imagine that the entire continent has been struck by this disease.
 
sooty mangabey said:
Pandrillus is based in Nigeria, about 3,000 km away from the Ebola epicentre. This is about the same distance as that between Syria and the Czech Republic, yet I'm not sure that the campaign of Islamic State threatens the future of, say, Pilsen Zoo. Africa is a very large place, and it is important not to imagine that the entire continent has been struck by this disease.
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Your admonition that Africa is a big place and the importance of not confounding Ebola's spread to the whole continent is good. Ebola was in Nigeria, but their relatively intact government allowed them to hopefully shut down the spread of the virus.

Nonetheless Ian's concern is on target about Liberia and the region.

I recently interviewed a botanist about the state of nature conservation in Liberia for a story. He was extremely pessimistic about the prospects for conserving much forest there, and this was before their economy and infrastructure were destroyed by the Ebola epidemic.
 
Conservative predictions are that in both countries where Ebola is more or less gone out of control, it threatens to destroy the very fabric of society. Virologists who modeled the disease and made projections are looking at potentially 5 million people affected by the disease by 2015 in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
 
IanRRobinson said:
TT have a serious point here. The African rainforest belt faces serious threats, with political instability making it hard enough for external NGOS such as WCS and ZSL) to operate there anyway. I fear that Ebola has the potential to derail a fair number of insitu conservation projects. Pandrillus and CERCOPAN spring to mind immediately.
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Speaking of WCS, they had released a video about how they are using a new method to study the Ebola virus in wildlife.
 
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sooty mangabey said:
Pandrillus is based in Nigeria, about 3,000 km away from the Ebola epicentre. This is about the same distance as that between Syria and the Czech Republic, yet I'm not sure that the campaign of Islamic State threatens the future of, say, Pilsen Zoo. Africa is a very large place, and it is important not to imagine that the entire continent has been struck by this disease.
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I'm aware Africa is big, but its transport links with the outside world are vulnerable. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear, but if key workers can't fly in or out because of restrictions then that will have consequences.
 
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