Ebola Virus: Testing a Bio-Weapon or Just an Outbreak?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When things come up, like the Ebola Virus, it will be good to get into it, to know what it is all about. I have been reading to really pin down on certain aspects of this Ebola Virus and it's spread.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This will make an interesting reading;</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"A Nigerian working with John Hopkins Infectious epidemiology unit in the United States of America gave me a call this morning on my way to the airport and she s<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">aid: </span></span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Malik when they were training us on containment of Ebola virus it was for studies on how to use it as a bio - weapon, now my confusion is why are they bringing it up now?</span></div> <div class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> How come an American-Liberian was the person sent to Nigeria and what was he coming to Nigeria to do?</div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> I have always said it that since we have failed to connect patterns I will continue to speak it out.These guys create viruses in laboratories and test it on nations to see the extent of damage and how best to control their economy.</div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> If Nigeria continues the way it is going, Nigeria could emerge as Africa's leading economy and Nigeria will decide what Africa does and the West cannot allow that happen."</div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> There is so much criminality in the World. Many among the developed countries are completely immersed in the rogue quest to control other nations of the World. So, they don't mind anything just to keep countries in check, confused and bedeviled by man-made but very difficult challenges. My pain is that, African countries always turn out to be the weeping child. On this Ebola thing, it is all about Africa.</div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> Well, Personally, I find it interesting that it is just few days ago that the man, Peter Piot, who at 27 helped discover the virus, in 1976, is speaking up. Look at his take.</div> <div class="imageBox" itemprop="associatedMedia image" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: both; height: auto; margin: 10px auto; max-width: 480px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 720px;" tw="720"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Peter Piot" class="imgPhoto full" height="480" id="i1391689" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" src="http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1391689/peter-piot.jpg?w=720&h=480&l=50&t=40" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 480px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" th="800" title="Professor Peter Piot said Ebola virus outbreak is unlikely to turn into a global pandemic" tw="1200" width="720" /></span><div class="caption" style="margin: 0px; padding: 2px 3px 4px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="cap" itemprop="caption" style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">Professor Peter Piot said Ebola virus outbreak is unlikely to turn into a global pandemic</span><span class="credit" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(Getty)</span></span></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The scientist who helped discover the Ebola virus has said he would sit next to an infected patient on the London Underground and that the outbreak in West Africa was unlikely to trigger a major global pandemic.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told AFP that a lack of trust in authorities in West Africa had contributed to the world's largest ever outbreak of the pathogen.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The former executive director of the <a href="http://www.unaids.org/en/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">United Nations HIV/AIDS programme</a> UNAIDS said he did not believe the virus would give rise to a major pandemic, even if an infected person flew to Europe or the US.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Spreading in the population here, I'm not that worried about it," he said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I wouldn't be worried to sit next to someone with Ebola virus on the Tube as long as they don't vomit on you or something. This is an infection that requires very close contact."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Piot discovered Ebola in 1976, as a 27-year-old researcher working in Antwerp. He was sent a blood sample from a Catholic nun who had died in what was then Zaire, and is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He later visited Yambuku village, approximately 600 miles north of the modern-day capital city of Kinshasa, where an epidemic had gripped the locals. The majority of infections were among women aged between 20 and 30, centred around a pre-natal consultation clinic.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"People were devastated because in some villages, one in 10, one in eight people could die from Ebola," he told AFP. "I was scared, but I was 27, so you think you are invincible."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The virus, they discovered, was being spread through the reuse of infected needles on pregnant women, as well as through the funeral preparation process.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Someone who dies is washed, the body is laid out but you do this with bare hands. Someone who died from Ebola, that person is covered with virus because of vomitus, diarrhea, blood," explains Piot, adding that the same thing was now happening in the most recent outbreak.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said the history of Sierra Leone and Liberia, which has seen over 224 and 130 fatalities repectively since February, was hindering efforts to tackle the virus.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"These countries are coming out of decades of civil war," he said. "Liberia and Sierra Leone are now trying to reconstruct themselves so there is a total lack of trust in authorities, and that combined with poverty and very poor health services I think is the explanation why we have this extensive outbreak now."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He added that officials should test experimental vaccines on people with the virus so that the world is prepared when it returns.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I think that the time is now, at least in capitals, to offer this kind of treatment for compassionate use but also to find out if it works so that for the next epidemic, we are ready."</span></div> <div class="fullArticle" style="background-image: url(http://g.ibtimes.co.uk/www/img/feb2014/bg_dot_line.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; border-top-color: rgb(240, 80, 50); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 3px; clear: both; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 10px 0px 20px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <br /></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"> <br /></div> </div>

Ebola Virus: Testing a Bio-Weapon or Just an Outbreak?

When things come up, like the Ebola Virus, it will be good to get into it, to know what it is all about. I have been reading to really pin...

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