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Ebola Virus Is More Likely to Spread through Aerosols – and Survive Longer – When It’s Cold

George Washington's picture




 

A British government defense lab finds that Ebola can last up to 50 days in the cold.

The Daily Mail reports:

The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the Zaire strain [of Ebola] will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures for as long as 50 days.

The left-hand charts plot survival rates of Zaire strain of Ebola (Zebov) and Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv) on glass (a) and plastic (b) at 4° (39°F) over 14 days. The right-hand charts reveal the survival rate under the same conditions over 50 days. Both viruses survived for 26 days, and Ebola was extracted after 50 days

The left-hand charts plot survival rates of Zaire strain of Ebola (Zebov) and Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv) on glass (a) and plastic (b) at 4° (39°F) over 14 days. The right-hand charts reveal the survival rate under the same conditions over 50 days. Both viruses survived for 26 days, and Ebola was extracted after 50 days.

 

The tests were initially carried out by researchers from DSTL before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the strain investigated is one of five that is still infecting people globally.

 

The findings are also quoted in advice from the Public Agency of Health in Canada.

Temperatures of 39°F or colder are common in the U.S., Canada and much of Europe during the winter.

Top Ebola scientists also say that the virus is more likely to be spread by aerosol in cold, dry conditions than in hot, humid weather.

(Given that sneeze droplets can travel 20 feet, that’s nothing to sneeze at.)

Indeed, the British defense study cited above also found:

***

 

All three filoviruses under investigation [Ebola is a type of filovirus] could be detected after 90 min in a dynamic aerosol (Fig. 4a)

In other words – even after 90 minutes – Ebola could survive suspended in aerosols if the temperature is chilly.

The amount of Ebola which survives in aerosol obviously diminishes with time:

However, since MIT has recently shown that sneeze droplets travel much farther than previously thought – and can enter into ventilation systems – Ebola protocols need to take these realities into account.

This is the first time that Ebola has spread out of West Africa to cooler, dryer nations … so we can’t assume that what works in the hotzone will work here.

 

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Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:31 | 5387284 knukles
knukles's picture

Do you realize that makes the survivors human bio-labs?

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:23 | 5387249 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

Plasma and fluids is a great treatment regime.  Raises the survival rate by quite a bit.  

Only problem will be if there ends up being too many cases to properly house patients and process and administer the plasma with all of the panic and disruption that a larger number of cases would surely bring. 

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:19 | 5387236 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

On a related note, my understanding is that this virus attacks the lining of blood vessels causing them to deteriorate. For these survivors, are there any lasting issues even after the virus has been eliminated? They look pretty healthy in the photos.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is nothing to be worried about, I'm just questioning whether it is going to be as big a problem here in the US where hygiene and living conditions are much better.

It's like we either get 'the sky is falling, we're all gonna die' or the politicians saying 'meh, we have it under control'.

I just wonder if we are only hearing of these recovered folks and not about newly infected folks.

 

 

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:24 | 5387250 George Washington
George Washington's picture

Seven years after surviving the deadly ebola haemorrhagic fever, a number of people in Gulu have not fully recovered from the disease. Many
are still suffering from headaches, general body pains, general weakness, poor vision and reduced sexual abilities.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200712150027.html

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 02:30 | 5388825 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

"Many are still suffering from headaches, general body pains, general weakness, poor vision and reduced sexual abilities."

 

Never had Ebola, but that sure describes my life these days.

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 20:40 | 5388176 Blood Spattered...
Blood Spattered Banner's picture

Maybe it's time they talked to their Doctors about Cialis? 

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:26 | 5387260 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

Yeah, that kind of worries me about as much as contracting it - lifelong issues from it. Like scarlet fever impacting hearts and polio leaving paralysis.

But, looks like the pols are bound and determined to bring it to a neighborhood near you by any means necessary.

 

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:34 | 5387300 knukles
knukles's picture

Of course, dear Dexter.  We know they want to save the Earth by propagating the very defense Mother Earth has "cooked up" to eliminate the infection of Humans.
It is all so very clear.

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:07 | 5387184 George Washington
George Washington's picture

What medicines were they treated with? Are those medicines available to the general public?

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 17:41 | 5387505 WhackoWarner
WhackoWarner's picture

I think a very limited supply of the Canadian drug was available.   PBS I think indicated this but can't remember the show I saw.

 

The drug made in Winnepeg and then sidelined and licenced out.  Think Health Canada has the patent.

 

What is going into clinical trials is new manufacture of the same drug.

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:09 | 5387199 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

Don't know, and don't know, but why wouldn't they be made available if there was an outbreak? Seeing these folks recover raises the expectations of a successful fight against the disease, true?

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:02 | 5390335 kumquatsunite
kumquatsunite's picture

There are indications that those who have had ebola will now have lifelong difficulties with their health. After, for instance, your kidneys have been ransacked by ebola, how do they function? Do they have full functioning? Will it continue for the rest of your life? What about your lungs...? There are also indicators, from numerous sources, the viruses are notorious for their ability to reconstitute themselves, long after they should have been "null and void," as it were. This is why the CDC went nuts when they heard of a small piece of a smallpox blanket in some obscure museum out west a while back, and promptly sent some people out to bring it back to the CDC.

Apocalyptic scenarios render the cockroach as the "last survivor," but the reality is that it will always be the virus. Those suckers just want to live, and rise again long after you are sure they are done for. Did see a guy dressing for going into the ebola wards in Africa (quite a while back) and he had rubbed iodine all over his hands and up his forearms before putting on the two layers of gloves. 

The height of arrogance is to believe, as Oboma and Friden propagandize, that western civilizations can "defeat" anything. Didn't defeat the Viet Cong; Didn't defeat the muslims who have arisen as ISIS; polio is often said to be on the verge of being defeated but it lives in the soil in many places in Africa, and there is no way they can ever track down all the viruses in that soil.

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 15:26 | 5387041 verum quod lies
verum quod lies's picture

Thank goodnes for 'global warming'; otherwise, we could be in for some real trouble. Sarc. off.

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 16:41 | 5387327 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Don't forget Fukushima!

We've global warming to cook us, Fukushima to fry us & ebola to puree us.

Happy daze!

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 00:17 | 5388715 12ToothAssassin
12ToothAssassin's picture

GW you are a useful idiot gleefully participating in this distraction du jour. Shame on you.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 06:51 | 5389059 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

8 more people might get it! Do you know what this means? Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 05:00 | 5388973 Rememberweimar
Rememberweimar's picture

We need to bring more people with EBOLA VIRUS to the United States to complete the Elite Agenda... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/29/lawmaker-claims-plans-may-be-...

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!