# Uh, Oh! It's Ebola! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 28, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533 "2005-04-28T12:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/1 "2005-04-28T12:33:22Z")
[One case so far.](http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050427-100259-3145r) > [@](#): > > The Minister of Health in Equatorial Guinea has issued an alert about the deadly Ebola virus after a man with symptoms of the disease died last week. > > ``` > The Web site Afriquecentrale.info reported the alert was read on national radio. The minister advised any patient with symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, including a high fever and bleeding from the mouth, ears, nose or eyes, should be treated at a health facility. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/2 "2005-04-28T13:39:52Z")
Cue hysterical press releases of Pentagon officials “looking into claims of” Al Qaeda members crossing the Sahara in jeeps full of petri dishes. Oh, wait, there’s no longer an election to win. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/3 "2005-04-28T13:47:02Z")
Didn’t a Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever with a particularly high death rate just hit a region in Southern Africa? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/4 "2005-04-28T14:38:35Z")
That happened in Angola. Personally I’m glad that the ebola outbreak is in central Africa if it has to be anywhere at all; in recent years it seems that fate has just decided to make southern Africa its punching bag. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/5 "2005-04-28T15:11:07Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > Cue hysterical press releases of Pentagon officials “looking into claims of” Al Qaeda members crossing the Sahara in jeeps full of petri dishes. > > Oh, wait, there’s no longer an election to win. Well, a case of Ebola in Africa sure would be suspicious. :rolleyes: The warning about watching for symptoms seems like a no-brainer. Sure some people may not think too much of a fever but once you start bleeding out multiple orifices it’s really time to see a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/6 "2005-04-28T15:31:51Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Well, a case of Ebola in Africa sure would be suspicious. :rolleyes: > > The warning about watching for symptoms seems like a no-brainer. Sure some people may not think too much of a fever but once you start bleeding out multiple orifices it’s really time to see a doctor. Except that, at that point you’re pretty much going to die anyway. And from what I heard on a radio report people going to the hospital is one of the main reasons there have been so many people infected in the latest outbreak of Marburg. Apparently sanitary conditions in some African hospitals are so bad AND Marburg and Ebola are so contagious that the outbreaks vector through the hospitals. FWIW there are also promising vaccines for these in simians and mice. The bad news is that the vaccines are not cost effective\* so we’re unlikely to see widespread human vaccination anytime soon. \*Poor countries, rare if very nasty diseases that are generally confined to said poor countries and some visiting health care workers. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/7 "2005-04-28T15:34:07Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Except that, at that point you’re pretty much going to die anyway What I was thinking too, surely better to run away (after pour petrol over the person and dropping a match) ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/8 "2005-04-28T16:56:29Z")
I think there are symptoms before the hemorrhagic stage. I don’t know about Ebola, but I heard on the radio yesterday that for Marburg it’s high fever and pounding headache. If you at least know a person is sick with the virus, you will know to avoid any contact with their bodily fluids, and you can try to get them isolated before they begin oozing said highly contageous body fluids. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-oh-its-ebola/301533/9 "2005-04-28T21:15:20Z")
**SentientMeat** , knock it off. You’ve been around long enough to know political snipes aren’t allowed in **MPSIMS**. Let’s keep in mind what forum this is, folks. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB