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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| No Dog-bola Yet |
| 2014-10-16 |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #3 "It is not a danger. We're not concerned," Schaffner told CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley. Empirical data tends to suggest that a significant percentage of a dog population can be immunologically confronted with Ebola without triggering an epidemic and mass-death. Apparently there are no studies concerning the progress of Ebola in dogs, the modes and probabilities of Ebola transmission dog->dog, dog->human, human-> dog, etc. 'Top men' making bold statements in the near total absence of empirical data is a reason to be concerned. "We know that this virus can circulate in animals, but pets have not been a feature of Ebola spread, whether in Africa and certainly not here in the developed world," he said. In December of 2013 the index patient of this outbreak died. How he was infected is not known. Ebola is not endemic in the human population, so logically the first patient was infected by some non-human organism, most likely a mammal. How then do we 'know' that pets have not been a factor? The City of Dallas said Tuesday the dog would be monitored for the next 21 days. "The problem is we haven't really studied the progress of Ebola in dogs," Sanders said. Why then this totally arbitrary 21 days quarantine? The worst reasonable assumption is that dogs can be a reservoir species for Ebola. Ebola in dogs could very well be generally asymptomatic and persistent. A dog infected with Ebola would then be contagious for the rest of its life while being apparently healthy. The dog should be kept under observation in a bio safety level 4 facility for the time being. His bodily fluids should be checked regularly for the presence of Ebola proteins and RNA. |
| Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2014-10-16 09:43 |
| #2 Not in dogs, eh? Ya know, I'm starting to think the whole "African fruit bat/exotic pet" thing was maybe a bad idea. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-10-16 01:37 |
| #1 A thorough detailed write up regarding Ebola. (Link) |
| Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-10-16 00:33 |