# New killer virus found in Africa - Discover disease that causes Ebola-like bleeding



## MMiz (May 30, 2009)

*New killer virus found in Africa*
_Scientists discover disease that causes Ebola-like bleeding_

ATLANTA - Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus.

The so-called "Lujo" virus infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a medicine recommended by the scientists.

It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery.

*Read more!*


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## fma08 (May 30, 2009)

Sweeeeet.


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## mycrofft (May 31, 2009)

*Anybody remember "Reston Ebola"?*

Naw, different story, different type of virus.
Arenaviruses are nothing to joke about. Except maybe here.


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## VentMedic (May 31, 2009)

A good book to learn more about the Reston Ebola incident is "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston.  

Sidenote: Dr. William Close, the father of actress Glenn Close, was one of the leading researchers and physicians for Ebola.  His book "Ebola" is also an excellent read.


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## mycrofft (May 31, 2009)

*Book by CJ Peters who was in charge of the Reston outbreak.*

http://www.amazon.com/Virus-Hunter-Thirty-Battling-Viruses/dp/0385485581
Als mentions arenaviruses.


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## Epi-do (May 31, 2009)

VentMedic said:


> A good book to learn more about the Reston Ebola incident is "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston.



I have to second that!  It has been a few years since I picked it up, but it was a good read.


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## VFFforpeople (May 31, 2009)

YAY!! Something new to fear that will be blown way out of control...like the dreaded swine flu!!!


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## VentMedic (May 31, 2009)

VFFforpeople said:


> YAY!! Something new to fear that will be blown way out of control...like the dreaded swine flu!!!


 
Ebola has been known for several decades and has been very deadly in Africa. 

One has to understand how viruses exist and it is better to know as much about them as possible. 

HIV is a great example. In the 1980s we treated patients with HIV like they had the plague or worst. Some still don't understand its transmission and are fearful to touch these patients if they are in their ambulances even with gloves. 

The more you know about your enemy the less you have to fear and more to respect.


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## mycrofft (May 31, 2009)

*Cancer used to be that way. And to y'all who are unaquainted with Reston ebola:*

Short hx: a monkey importing and quarantine facility in Reston, VA, was determined to be harboring a filovirus (same family as Ebola and Marburg viruses), the stock was sedated then destroyed, the building sealed and turned into one giant chemical autoclave using formaldehyde, timers, and electric skillets plus miles of duct tape to seal it up.
Some employees came down sick (oops....h34r. They tested positive for filovirus, but one actually had a cardiac condition if I remember, and the other has some other viral disease, neither died. They tested other healthy employees and found they also tested positive. The virus was (supposedly is) fatal to monkeys but not people.

We have our own haemorrhagic fevers, thank you, Yellow Fever being the one most likely to come back to the U.S.

Cj Peters wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.J._Peters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_Reston


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## VentMedic (May 31, 2009)

The U.S. also has the Hanta Virus and RSV(Respiratory Syncytial Virus).

Approximately 125,000 infants are hospitalized each year in the U.S. with a severe case RSV. 500 of those infants may die.


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## VFFforpeople (Jun 1, 2009)

VentMedic said:


> Ebola has been known for several decades and has been very deadly in Africa.
> 
> One has to understand how viruses exist and it is better to know as much about them as possible.
> 
> ...



It was towards the like ebola virus..Also..I am not really worried it was more sarcastic comment. lol


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## VentMedic (Jun 1, 2009)

VFFforpeople said:


> It was towards the like ebola virus..Also..I am not really worried it was more sarcastic comment. lol


 


VFFforpeople said:


> YAY!! Something *new* to fear that will be blown way out of control...like the dreaded swine flu!!!


 
Had you heard of Ebola before this thread?


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## Shishkabob (Jun 1, 2009)

VFFforpeople said:


> YAY!! Something new to fear that will be blown way out of control...like the dreaded swine flu!!!



Except the swine flu WAS something to fear.


Sorry, but if the head of the CDC, who has many more years of experience with viruses than most other people in the world, and the WHO are freaked out by it, you bet your butt I will be too.


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## mycrofft (Jun 2, 2009)

*Update your info about fear factor.*

The USA experience with "swine flu" (this time around) has been no worse than regular influenza. Many more reoprted deatghs in Mexico, and their figures are suspect either way (too high or too low).
Even if "no worse", it could conceivably kill about as many people as are killed in traffic accidents in a year, and they have to appear to be "doing something" about it.


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## Buzz (Jun 2, 2009)

Linuss said:


> Except the swine flu WAS something to fear.
> 
> 
> Sorry, but if the head of the CDC, who has many more years of experience with viruses than most other people in the world, and the WHO are freaked out by it, you bet your butt I will be too.



Yes, the swine flu was something be concerned about, but not for the reasons many held that concern for. The thing is that those people you mentioned actually understand what there is to be concerned about with swine-origin viruses. The general public either does not understand or does not realize that and was terrified of some super-fatal virus that they believed you get from eating pork.


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## fma08 (Jun 3, 2009)

Buzz said:


> Yes, the swine flu was something be concerned about, but not for the reasons many held that concern for. The thing is that those people you mentioned actually understand what there is to be concerned about with *swine-origin viruses*. The general public either does not understand or does not realize that and was terrified of some super-fatal virus that they believed you get from eating pork.



Actually any animal carrying more than one Influenza A strain has the potential for big problems.


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## Buzz (Jun 3, 2009)

fma08 said:


> Actually any animal carrying more than one Influenza A strain has the potential for big problems.



Exactly my point. How many people actually realize that? It's a two pronged danger: 1, it's a moderate pandemic flu outbreak and 2, it poses the potential for viruses to exchange genes to make new and far more dangerous viruses. 

I've read some theories about the domestication of pigs and diseases. Being that pigs are a link to us for viruses that normally affect the animal world, it's possible that is one of the reasons they are considered "unclean" to some cultures. It could also be because they didn't cook it properly and frequently got trichinosis. Something that isn't just speculation is that new diseases began infecting the human population with the domestication of pigs about 10,000 years ago. Would that have happened without pigs? Sure. Is it possible that pigs could have exposed us to new diseases that we wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise? Absolutely.


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## Shishkabob (Jun 3, 2009)

Buzz said:


> Being that pigs are a link to us for viruses that normally affect the animal world, it's possible that is one of the reasons they are considered "unclean" to some cultures.



I find it hard to believe that Jews and Muslims took that in to account thousands of years ago, before they even knew bacteria and virus' existed.


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## Buzz (Jun 3, 2009)

Linuss said:


> I find it hard to believe that Jews and Muslims took that in to account thousands of years ago, before they even knew bacteria and virus' existed.



You find it hard to believe that someone happened to notice they get sick more often when around certain animals?


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