Inside the Fascinating and Terrifying Science of Ebola

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/inside-fascinating-and-terrifying-science-ebola

1. How infectious is Ebola?

In a fatal case, a droplet of blood the size of the “o” in this text could easily contain a hundred million particles of Ebola virus. Experiments suggest that if one particle of Ebola enters a person’s bloodstream it can cause a fatal infection.

2. Is Ebola mutating?

Mutations, Preston explains, are errors in the genetic code that occur as a virus multiplies. As you read this and go about your business, the Ebola virus’ code is changing. Like any living thing, Ebola wants to survive.

3. Could Ebola become airborne?

As Preston explains, there are two ways for a virus to travel through air. One is inside a droplet (of sweat or mucus, or other bodily fluid).


4. Is ZMapp a cure for Ebola?

The New Yorker piece delves into the fascinating survival story of Kent Brantly, the American doctor who contracted Ebola and nearly died of it, before being brought back to Emory Hospital in Atlanta and being cured. Brantly was at death’s door when he was treated by an experimental serum called ZMapp. Before that, ZMapp had only been used on monkeys, but had shown promising results, bringing them back from being very close to death with three doses.

[HereSince1628]

1. Interesting article, yes, but rather full of artistic interpretive license.

Gotta say, when I read a subject line promising an introduction to scientific understanding, I let my guard down, not expecting a need for willful suspension of belief about whether viruses think, have desires, and use those desires to direct their evolutionary path in order to achieve the desired goal of 'survival' for their replicans.

[Fred Sanders]

2. Agreed, once again a journalist distorts an interview and facts to get headlines...pathetic.

Go to the source,mine experts, like President Obama has at his side, unfiltered.