Swine Ebola - No Joke!
As if "swine flu" wasn't bad enough,
Scientific American is reporting that the Ebola virus has been detected in domestic pigs in the Philippines. The particular strain of the virus,
Reston ebolavirus, is not known to cause fatal haemorrhagic fever in humans, but is still rated a class 4 pathogen by the US Center for Disease Control (it's highest rating) because of the extreme fatality rate and absence of effective treatment of the disease caused by other Ebola viruses. One farmhand who worked with the pigs has also tested positive for
R.ebolavirus, but is asymptomatic.
In this case it seems like most likely that the pigs caught the disease from the human rather than the other way round. However that pigs can catch and potentially pass on the organism to humans is an unexpected, and worrying, development. Michael McIntosh of the Department of Agriculture expressed concern not only that the Reston strain might mutate into something more deadly in its new host, but that the other disease-causing strains might also be using pigs as a reservoir. "What is the level of risk?" said McIntosh, "We really don't know" (
Scientific American Article) (
Paper in Science).
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
No! Bacon, bacon, why hast thou forsaken me!
Posted by Dumbfounded on 07/11 at 03:57 PM
we may be forced to resort to *gasp* turkey bacon!
Posted by patty on 07/11 at 04:04 PM
wow that's more than a little scary yogi.
Posted by patty on 07/11 at 04:37 PM
wanna bet they sterilized the place when they tore down the buildings. most likely nothing will grow there again. if the government ever lets anyone use the site for anything ever again.
Posted by patty on 07/13 at 12:18 PM
i hope that's bs. god how stupid.
Posted by patty on 07/14 at 03:57 PM
the disease doesn't concern me. it's the toxic chemicals used to wipe all traces of it out that have to still be lingering in the ground. children love to play in dirt and sit on the ground. they are notoriously bad handwashers and put their hands in their mouths constantly. not to mention a scrape is direct contamination of the blood. love canal was 'safe' right up till all the kids started dying of cancer. i believe it is still unused property.
Posted by patty on 07/16 at 07:08 PM
Yes, that's right, you can catch swine flu from pork.
Similarly, you can get chickenpox from last night's "sweet and sour", and German measles from frankfurters. And you don't even want to
know what gives you a horse throat!
Posted by Dumbfounded on 09/04 at 09:09 AM
what do you have to eat to get hpv?
Posted by patty on 09/04 at 11:31 AM
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Category: Agriculture, Animals, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Food, Health, Disease