Ebola

Interesting statement Freda13 and prompted me to do a little light googling before breakfast. WHO have done a comprehensive investigation of all the available research bit.ly/1nBEYA9 - into all aspects of hand hygiene.
Quick skim seems to indicate that alcohol gels tend to reduce both bacteria and viruses on the skin, but some viruses are more susceptible than others.

One thing that had not struck me was the fact that the water available for hand washing may not be of good quality in the first place and could be contaminated - difficult in 3rd world.
And an interesting nugget - hot water for hand washing no better than cold - but hot water does lead to more skin irritation. So if you are mopping up after and ailing grandchild, wash your hands thoroughly with cold water.

The hand rub/gel is antibacterial not anti viral.

Sky News had a live feed to a World Health Organisation press conference about 20 minutes ago . They have declared Ebola a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern'

The BBC didn't show the press conference and Sky cut off the link to go back to the studio for us to listen to 3 people with not much of a clue. . That really annoyed me.

Jess Yes I think you are right, about contact with body fluids rather than exchange, as I fucking love science(sic) indicates
https://scontent-b-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10517566_899119033442442_2568634819121051542_n.jpg?oh=3841d7809fc72e15858fe1d34deb5e4c&oe=547B88A5

That should have said NORO at the top!

Do they mean "exchange of body fluids" Janeainsworth which is what they say for AIDS (someone's body fluid has to enter your body) or do they mean "contact with body fluids" - bit different. AIDS virus very fragile and cannot live long outside a body - other viruses e.g. moro, not so fragile and can infect after hours or days if you, for instance, were handling a contaminated sheet.

Monoclonal antibody drugs (they end in -mab) are indeed making inroads into cancer treatment. They are bespoke antibodies that can recognise the unique signature of particular kind of cell - a particular molecular structure on its surface and damage it.
There are only a few available so far - the process of developing them and producing them requires an astonishing amount of laboratory work.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody
In the main they have been used for cancer and anti-inflammatory conditions and they can be "wonder drugs" for certain diseases, avoiding the need for toxic chemotherapy. There are couple of anti-viral applications but again, they are probably very specific.
It's a very long hard road to develop them and some of you may remember the incident at Northwick Park where one of these, given for the first time as a safety trial, to a group of healthy volunteers, caused massive organ failure and tragic results.
Once a monoclonal antibody has been shown to work in a small group it is another long road to having a small batch of doses ready to go out of the door. This is because they are biological molecules - not simple chemicals. They are made from cloned mouse antibodies that have to be careful cultured. If you imagine H2O having 3 atoms, a simple drug molecule having a handful of atoms, a biological molecule like a MAB would have many thousands arranged in a unique way, so you could not ever make them in a chemistry lab. What this means is that even if they had a couple of dozens of doses in the fridge they could not possibly scale up production to deal with an epidemic.
I hope WHO are not wasting time on this red herring and are focussing on getting supplies into hospitals and helping governments to operate quarantines etc.

Monoclonal antibody treatment seems to be the way forward in many areas these days. DH was treated with one - Rituximab when he was diagnosed with a form of Lymphoma 5 years ago and DD is currently on a drugs trial at Barts on another similar sounding drug "something imab" for her Psoriatic Arthritis. Interesting.

I read today that 2 people have been quarantined in the UK afte they returned from working in affected areas. This seems a reasonable precaution given the long incubation period and it is reassuring to know that procedures are in place. My initial point was that the world has become a smaler place given the relative ease of expansion of air travel and that movement between continents is now commonplace. I do not see it as "media hype" or a knee-jerk panic reaction but a commonsense precaution to be prepared for diseases which may originate in other parts of the world

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04cf5ps

The interview is with Sarah Montague, 1:33;40 into the programme.

Thanks, jane. Good to be informed.

There was a consultant interviewed by John Humphries on the Today programme about 15 minutes ago. He had been involved in the outbreak of 1976 when Ebola was first identified.

He said that the situation in West Africa was dire, because of poor hygiene and distrust of Western Medicine and doctors.

BUT he re-iterated that you can't get Ebola from sitting next to someone in a taxi or plane, only from exchange of body fluids. He also said that if anyone came into the UK suffering from Ebola, our hospitals with modern cross-infection control procedures would be able to cope.

He also said that two Americans had been successfully treated with monoclonal antibodies, an experimental treatment, but the WHO considers their use 'unethical' in West Africa.

Basically the message was don't panic about the possibility of an epidemic here, because it won't happen.

I'll post the link when it's available on iPlayer.

The TV news here has just reported the first case of ebola in Saudi Arabia.

I hope so Galen

Sounded more anecdotal. Is it possible that the other passengers were infected from different sources.
It would be most credible if they all died within a few days of each other.
The most likely scenario is that I presume they all came from the same village as they ere sharing a communal taxi, and that they were infected by the original source because of helping care and bury her.

Thank you for the article Bags. If the part about the passengers simply in the taxi with an infected woman all dying is true, then I find that very disturbing.

Imagine if that has been a plane.

Well said, TF.
I think too that as well as making our views known to our elected representatives, and donating to charities like Medical Aid for Palestine or Medicins Sans Frontieres, the Internet, through petitions and social media, has become a powerful means of raising awareness and bringing about change.

HollyDaze - of course, why should you worry about " the world snd his wife"? Or indeed his children being bombed in Gaza, or dying in Syria or starving in any other humanitarian tragedy or anything - leave it to the politicians ( who votes them into office? Oh yes, we do) and the charities( who funds them? Oh yes, people who do care). I agree that merely shaking one's head in despair doesn't do much, but there are ways to help or show you care. And a head shaken in despair is still better thsn one stuck firmly in the sand.

I thought the disease was also secreted in tears.

Very interesting article. Thankyou bags.

Article about the spread of ebola with ideas how to limit it by Matt Ridley.

POGS it is close bodily contact with body fluids, not with the person, as Charleygirl and I have said, like HIV.
You cannot get AIDS by sitting next to someone who is HIV positive.
You cannot get AIDS by drinking out of a cup, or using cutlery, that someone who is HIV positive has used.
You can't get AIDS from sitting on a toilet that an HIV positive person has sat on.
You quite possibly know someone who is HIV positive and it's perfectly ok to put your arms round them and give them a hug.
You get AIDS by injecting yourself with a needle that has been contaminated with blood from an infected person, or having unprotected sex with them.
Ebola has the same mode of transmission.

More infectious but not dissimilar

It is not dissimilar to HIV re how it is transferred..

Not close enough contact. It is most infectious in the terminal phase in sweat, saliva, blood, faeces etc. I doubt a person in that stage would be capable of flying

janeinsworth

I must be thick because I don't follow your point.

Ebola can be passed from human to human, why does a father not hugging and kissing his children not fall into a category of potentially passing the virus on. Likewise why does a passenger with Ebola sitting on a plane not have the potential to pass the virus on?