The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Rastus on June 01, 2013, 08:33:48 AM
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http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/coronavirus-arabian-peninsula (http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/coronavirus-arabian-peninsula)
Have any of you been watching the "progress" of the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) or...to be non-offensive a novel coronavirus? It's a SARS family of virus and of 50 known cases 27 fatalities on the 31-MAY-13 posting at the Centers For Disease Control.
What is distressing...besides the outward mortality rate...is that 3 of the people who expired in Saudi the other day had been hospitalized for a month. Which causes one to wonder how many of the 50 known cases are recoveries and for those who are not a current recovery what will be the eventual disposition for them?
With such few cases I am hoping it's really hard to pass around.
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Is this the one I saw a recent report about it mutating so it no longer responds to known treatments ?
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Maybe. They say it responds to one type of anti-viral drug early on....but I wonder if that just means prolongs or what. WHO has some additional info on it too.
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The WHO, no not the band, is kinda right up there with the efficiency of the UN.
SARS, MERS, E-Bola, Bird Flu, none of these were around 20 years ago, and they make HIV/AIDS look tame as it's a lot harder to get.
Reminded of a skit about germs, diseases, infections, from George Carlin
Uh.....Language Warning..But he's spot on...
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The WHO, no not the band, is kinda right up there with the efficiency of the UN.
SARS, MERS, E-Bola, Bird Flu, none of these were around 20 years ago, and they make HIV/AIDS look tame as it's a lot harder to get.
Reminded of a skit about germs, diseases, infections, from George Carlin
Uh.....Language Warning..But he's spot on...
Funny as all hell! My immune system is tempered in raw garbage, 5 days a week! Germs? Germs? What germs!
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Ebola is nasty sh!t.
When Tom Clancy wrote his book "Rainbow Six" he got a lot of input from medical researchers .
The book contains detailed descriptions of how the disease runs it course .
Compared to any other disease , chemical, or biological weapon I've ever heard of this tops the list as the absolute nastiest sh!t .
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The only good thing about ebola is that it is quick and manifestations of it burn themselves out so quickly more people cannot be infected.
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The only good thing about ebola is that it is quick and manifestations of it burn themselves out so quickly more people cannot be infected.
Only because it generally occurs in the remote regions in Africa so people can't get far enough fast enough to infect others .
If some one exposed to it were to get on a airliner it would be a very very bad thing.
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No it stops when it hits modern western hygiene practices in real hospitals. It is very nasty but relatively hard to pass on as it needs blood contact. When the dead are handled and kept in the home for a while as local customs proscribe it is passed on to those who clean the body with no gloves etc.
Disease is brutal and Clancy did a good job of describing symptoms. He simplified how to passage it through hosts to get it to mutate and be more human transmissible. Funny though as the technique is 100 years old and well documented in peer reviewed journals.
Mers could be bad but it is too early to tell. It is not all that transmissible yet H2H. It is getting lots of press (both MSM and scientific) as it is newly discovered. Note that just means the virus was isolated from a sick person recently not that it has never infected someone before. It could have been around at a low level and assumed to be some other agent due to lack of testing. We have recently gotten really good at virus hunting. You don't know what you don't know.
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So far "MERS" seems like a Muslim version of "Sickle cell anemia".
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No it stops when it hits modern western hygiene practices in real hospitals. <snip>
I would not necessarily support that...but it could be perfectly valid and correct. The hospitals are fully funded with petrodollars in Saudi and a big chunk of infection were initial health workers who, I would think, be more likely to receive good care. But then you could be right because, for instance, Qatar has fantastic facilities funded by petrodollars and no deaths yet....but it is a small number and I haven't been able to find out at what point the infection cycle is in on those reported and alive.
Like you said...we don't know what we don't know but it should become more clear in a few months. Haji has his mecca thing going on here pretty quick if not now...so I suspect we will find out how and where it really spreads in those few months afterwards.
It is worth watching because the worldwide consensus is not if, but that we will have a modern plague one day. Maybe a 100 years from now...maybe in play right now at some other place and still under the radar. Regardless, keeping vigilant for illness is a good thing.+
MERS Cases and Deaths, April 2012 - May 2013
Current as of June 7, 2013
Countries
Cases (Deaths)
France 2 (1)
Italy 3 (0)
Jordan 2 (2)
Qatar 2 (0)
Saudi Arabia 40 (25)
Tunisia 2 (0)
United Kingdom (UK) 3 (2)
United Arab Emirates (UAE) 1 (1)
Total 55 (31)
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20-JUN-13
12 day incubation period. 60% mortality with hospital care. Haji starts ring around the rock in less than 3 weeks and about 20,000 from US will participate and then come back to the US....great.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2013_06_17/en/index.html (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2013_06_17/en/index.html)
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update
17 June 2013 - The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has announced an additional three laboratory-confirmed cases with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
The first patient is a 42-year-old man with an underlying medical condition from the Eastern region, the second patient is a 63-year-old woman with underlying medical conditions from Riyadh region and the third patient is a two-year-old child with an underlying medical condition from Jeddah.
Additionally, four previously laboratory-confirmed cases have died.
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 64 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 38 deaths.
WHO has received reports of laboratory-confirmed cases originating in the following countries in the Middle East to date: Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom also reported laboratory-confirmed cases; they were either transferred there for care of the disease or returned from the Middle East and subsequently became ill. In France, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom, there has been limited local transmission among patients who had not been to the Middle East but had been in close contact with the laboratory-confirmed or probable cases.
Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns.
Health care providers are advised to maintain vigilance. Recent travellers returning from the Middle East who develop SARI should be tested for MERS-CoV as advised in the current surveillance recommendations. Specimens from patients’ lower respiratory tracts should be obtained for diagnosis where possible. Clinicians are reminded that MERS-CoV infection should be considered even with atypical signs and symptoms, such as diarrhoea, in patients who are immunocompromised.
Health care facilities are reminded of the importance of systematic implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC). Health care facilities that provide care for patients suspected or confirmed with MERS-CoV infection should take appropriate measures to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus to other patients, health care workers and visitors.
All Member States are reminded to promptly assess and notify WHO of any new case of infection with MERS-CoV, along with information about potential exposures that may have resulted in infection and a description of the clinical course. Investigation into the source of exposure should promptly be initiated to identify the mode of exposure, so that further transmission of the virus can be prevented.
WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event nor does it currently recommend the application of any travel or trade restrictions.
WHO continues to closely monitor the situation.
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http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/20/new-mers-virus-spreads-easily-deadlier-than-sars/
Current as of June 21, 2013, 9:00 AM EDT
Countries Cases (Deaths)
France 2 (1)
Italy 3 (0)
Jordan 2 (2)
Qatar 2 (0)
Saudi Arabia 53 (32)
Tunisia 2 (0)
United Kingdom (UK) 3 (2)
United Arab Emirates (UAE) 1 (1)
Total 68 (38)
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And now it's here. Two cases. Not very virulent but at 30% mortality fairly morbid.
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Is it still confined to Middle Easterners ?
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The report I saw said one of the infected just came from Egypt.
Wonder how the folks on the plane feel?
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The report I saw said one of the infected just came from Egypt.
Wonder how the folks on the plane feel?
Then what's the problem ?
Sickle cell for ragheads.