Ebola Virus

Michael Everett wrote:

Thucydides wrote:Without proper precautions and the right sort of lab setup, the only thing radical Islamists are going to kill with ebola is themselves.

What is more ominous in my my mind is how come the story seems to have simply dropped off the radar? Things are still changing and evolving over there, and there must be some mechanism to track the progress of the disease (even if it is to eavesdrop on cell phone conversations listening for keywords like sickness, disease, fever or death...the NSA apparently has no difficulty listing for keywords like TEA Party on the phones and emails of Americans).

Knowledge is power, so the more we know the better prepared we will be.

I am (sort of) reminded of the Tom Clancy books Executive Orders and, to a lesser extent, Rainbow Six, both of which featured plans by extremists (Islamic in the first, environmentalists in the second) to utilise bio-warfare in terrorist actions.

Clancy also predicted the use of jumbo jets as the means of launching a suicidal strike (used by the so-called Islamists on Sep 11th, 2001) in his book Debt Of Honor. He even got in trouble with the American Government for being too accurate regarding submarines in his book The Hunt For Red October. We can only hope that his bio-plague scenarios never occur in real life.

The amazing thing is it hasn't happened yet, and may that continue forever.

IIRC Clancy's The Hunt for Red October is the only 'fiction' ever published by the Naval Institute Press, make of that what you will. Things got a bit meh later on but I have all the books you mention and a few more, all the earlier ones. Excellent writer and pretty good prophet. I remember after 9/11 assorted twits saying, 'Oh, no one ever imagined any of that'. Clancy did. and he is not exactly what I'd call an obscure and little known writer.

Lack of education is the biggest problem with Ebola.

In Canada we had a SARS illness and everyone stayed home, indoors as much as possible for a couple weeks to contain it. We understood the problem and followed the best advice to keep from catching spreading the disease. Something that was not done early on with the killer flues. Learn your lesson.

Ebola is a hard to catch disease. The problem is the persistence after death and screwy funeral rites. Touching the dead etc... This is often how it spreads. Perhaps like the great plagues of the past for the west this will be an African tool to clear out the stupid and ignorant. Sure grief can override common sense but this outbreak may just help with the next step in curing diseases and research. The nasty silver lining (30 pieces of silver)... There is a treatment being developed and perfected in Canada. There is also a lot of study going on with the genetic code of Ebola.

Hopefully we can get a cure or vaccine out to everyone so we can get rid of Ebola and use what we learn to get rid of many more diseases.

Michael Everett wrote:I am (sort of) reminded of the Tom Clancy books Executive Orders and, to a lesser extent, Rainbow Six, both of which featured plans by extremists (Islamic in the first, environmentalists in the second) to utilise bio-warfare in terrorist actions.

And at least in Executive Orders, this was accomplished by using a (small scale) bioweapons program set up by a government, not something you could do at home.

Early reports, and I think I do mean early, is that we have a suspected Ebola case in the Gold Coast region of Queensland. And only a couple if months after our Prime Minister cut funding to the only lab in the country qualified to study it as well.

News here says the admitting hospital doesnt believe he has it.

Annachie wrote:Early reports, and I think I do mean early, is that we have a suspected Ebola case in the Gold Coast region of Queensland. And only a couple if months after our Prime Minister cut funding to the only lab in the country qualified to study it as well.

Heads up. CDC is reporting a diagnosed Ebola case in Texas. News conference later about it. Hmmmm

http://www.moneynews.com/newswidget/ebo ... dgetphase2

Bureaucrats strike again. Sigh.....

So far ebola doesn't seem to have a vector through blood sucking insects. What is really scary is the possibility of a pneumonic transmission of the disease. Search on "black death" to see what could happen.

We might post here on useful things that can be done. The mention by Lord Skimper about staying home for a few weeks suggests building up a large enough pantry and source of water, etc. to handle at least a month's isolation if needed.

Does anyone know if the use of soap and water actually kills the virus, or just improves the sanitation?

If it is a virus killer: some mechanics, before working on a greasy or oily project, wash with bar soap but let it dry instead of rinsing it off. The soap is under the petro, which makes later washing easy. This would not be as good a protection as plastic unless it is a virus killer, but is cheap and easily available.

Unless and until enough of a cure is here, anything we can do to slow the spread ...

Saw on line that tests showed the item with the largest amount of bacteria per area in several restaurants was the menu. Anyone knowing someone running such a business might point out that washing laminated menus before putting them out again is a good sanitation measure. If S&W is a virus killer ... We might be able to use ebola as a reason to improve their sanitation!

"to the time of the end: many shall run too and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Daniel 12:4

Why couldn't this forum be a knowledge center for possible preventives to reduce the danger from all that traveling as to the spread of ebola. There are going to be rumors, could we spread some useful ones to fight it and reduce panic?

DDHv wrote:So far ebola doesn't seem to have a vector through blood sucking insects. What is really scary is the possibility of a pneumonic transmission of the disease. Search on "black death" to see what could happen.

We might post here on useful things that can be done. The mention by Lord Skimper about staying home for a few weeks suggests building up a large enough pantry and source of water, etc. to handle at least a month's isolation if needed.

Does anyone know if the use of soap and water actually kills the virus, or just improves the sanitation?

If it is a virus killer: some mechanics, before working on a greasy or oily project, wash with bar soap but let it dry instead of rinsing it off. The soap is under the petro, which makes later washing easy. This would not be as good a protection as plastic unless it is a virus killer, but is cheap and easily available.

Unless and until enough of a cure is here, anything we can do to slow the spread ...

Saw on line that tests showed the item with the largest amount of bacteria per area in several restaurants was the menu. Anyone knowing someone running such a business might point out that washing laminated menus before putting them out again is a good sanitation measure. If S&W is a virus killer ... We might be able to use ebola as a reason to improve their sanitation!

"to the time of the end: many shall run too and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Daniel 12:4

Why couldn't this forum be a knowledge center for possible preventives to reduce the danger from all that traveling as to the spread of ebola. There are going to be rumors, could we spread some useful ones to fight it and reduce panic?

Excellent ideas, except I'd extend that be prepared to stay home time to 6 weeks. IIRC that is the average burn through time for an epidemic in any given area, though many also have additional waves so.... Be reasonably prepared. Will not hurt, might help a whole lot.

For menus, library books, and around an office or wherever, I suggest a UV wand.

What they use in level 4 containment to kill germs, including ebola; common bleach. Not the scented or otherwise messed with sorts, basic bleach.

Vinegar is also a very effective agent safe for use on countertops etc whereas bleach is toxic. For sinks, a kettle of boiling water. That also works great on stovetops, kitchen floors, bathroom surfaces etc. Boiling water. not many germs survive contact. Fruit flies can also multiply in your sink, shower, tub and other drains. Yetch. A good dose of boiling water a couple times a week prevents that.

Ebola at present is spread by contact with body fluids etc and seems to have an RO factor of like 1.5-2, which is low. That relates to ease of spread. Measles is RO18 and THE most contagious germ among humans. Basically this relates to the on average number of persons each person with the bug infects with it. The higher the number the faster and more easily it spreads.

As long as Ebola does not become airborne it will remain a very dangerous bug that is not easily transmitted and unlikely to become a slatewiper or anything remotely like that.

OTOH NBC news now has a cameraman infected with Ebola and their Doctor Nancy and the rest of the crew with her in Liberia are now all under quarantine. Sooo presumably this guy, who is an American, was not doing dumb things like wiping up Ebola vomit with his bare hands soooo.

All others, carry on coming up with sensible positive things that are probably good ideas all the time.

While Ebola has the most attention, some other bug is paralyzing kids now, right here in America and they do not know if it is the same bug sending kids to the hospital in respiratory emergency mode or an unrelated, possibly opportunistic, infection.

I am old enough to remember polio. My mother's best friend was in an iron lung with polio, mostly recovered but had a weak right arm the rest of her life. So, this is the one that gives me the shivers. And it is loose right now all over America. Take care, especially if you have or are around children, to practice good hygiene practices all the time. Truth is, one never knows what may be lurking and pop out of nowhere to cause trouble.

unlikely to become a slatewiper or anything remotely like that.

One report says that in some villages it has wiped the slate. The lack of good hygiene is a major factor.


I passed on your suggestions to Global Prayer Partners, the Wesleyan prayer group and EHC. The GPP report says the number of cases is doubling every 20 days. In West Africa: All schools are closed. Most businesses are limited to critical needs as people are hunkering down. Travel only by permit. Much quarantine. Economic standstill, and obtaining food will become harder. The churches are using monitored chlorine baths for hands, and no touching is allowed. They are teaching what they know about this.
The best medical professionals state that stopping the epidemic will require 70% of the cases to have adequate medical care and all corpses to be interred safely. This is becoming harder as the number of cases increases. They are asking for prayer for a massive intervention

We can also talk to anyone we know who could move this forward This might not be killing as many as malaria - yet, but is not something to take chances about. I don't like underkill when dealing with diseases.

Their hospital, with, at present, 56 staff members, is serving all patients who come to them, but supplies are critical.


Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who is going into politics stated that instead of bringing those two infected missionary doctors back here, we should have sent two airplanes full of supplies and skilled volunteers. Makes sense to me.


Every Home for Christ (EHC) has been delivering much needed supplies and medicines to local hospitals. They report that many of them have doubled their capacity and still can't handle all the patients. Some lack reliable running water and electricity, as well as other needs.

At the time the EHC report was written, more than 80 doctors and nurses had died.

I understand that recovered people are immune. Does anyone have data on the strength of this immunity? If it is like smallpox, the few who are recovered can be a big help to the rest. You might pray for a good vaccine to be produced. Given that, sick areas can be surrounded with immunes, like they did with smallpox.

This is a case that begs for early intervention.

Any more suggestions will be passed on, although many will have problems with supply lacks.


Is there any more information about the paralyzing of kids disease in the US? It sounds that unlike ebola, the basics are not yet known.