NanoViricides Inc. (NNVC)

[double10x]

The scariest part about the new strain of Ebola is that the case fatality rate has fallen to ~22%. For a virus to go pandemic, a decrease in virulence must occur. It did. Past Ebola virus' had a CFR of 80-90%+ which killed most victims before they could transmit the virus to others or flee the infected areas. With the CFR dropping, pandemic warning bells will be going off all over this region of Africa. And given the 2 - 21 day incubation period, that gives the infected lots of time to move great distances or even leave the country. I hope that travel from this area is banned. Soon.

uh-oh10x
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FACTBOX - What is Ebola?
Thu Dec 6, 2007 12:09pm EST

Dec 6 (Reuters) - A new strain of the deadly Ebola virus is thought to have infected 93 people and killed at least 22 in Uganda, including a doctor and three other medical staff looking after patients, a health official said on Thursday.

The last time Uganda was hit by an epidemic of Ebola -- a disease in which those infected often bleed to death -- 425 people caught it in 2000. Just over half of them died.

Here are some key facts on Ebola:

* ORIGINS:
-- Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a severe, often fatal disease in humans and non-human primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees) that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976.

-- The disease is caused by infection with Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in Africa, where it was first recognised.

-- The Ebola virus comprises four distinct subtypes: Zaire, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire and Reston. Three subtypes, occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and the Ivory Coast, have been identified as causing illness in humans. EHF is a febrile haemorrhagic illness which causes death in between 50 and 90 percent of all clinically ill cases.

-- Genetic analysis of samples taken from some of the new victims show this virus is a previously unrecorded type of Ebola, making it a fifth strain, U.S. and Ugandan health officials have said. The unusually low death rate of this type -- at roughly 22 percent -- shows it is less lethal than previous epidemics.

* SYMPTOMS:
-- Ebola is often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.

-- This is often followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function and, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

-- The fever has an incubation period of two to 21 days.

-- No specific treatment or vaccine is yet available.

* TRANSMISSION:
-- The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people.

-- Burial ceremonies where mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can play a significant role in the transmission of Ebola. Health care workers have frequently been infected while treating Ebola patients.

* MAJOR OUTBREAKS:
-- Between June and November 1976, EHF infected 284 people in Sudan, causing 151 deaths. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there were 318 cases and 280 deaths in late 1976.

-- Between September 2000 and January 2001, the Sudan subtype of the Ebola virus infected 425 people, including 224 deaths, making it the largest epidemic so far of Ebola.

-- From October 2001 to December 2003, several EHF outbreaks of the Zaire subtype, were reported in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, with a total of 302 cases and 254 deaths.

-- Earlier this month, health officials in Democratic Republic of Congo declared the end of an Ebola outbreak, which it is believed has killed up to 187 people over 8 months. People began falling ill in April in the village of Kampungu in Western Kasai province with Ebola-like symptoms.

Sources: Reuters/ U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/ World Health Organisation. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06277921