If People With The Very Early Stages Of Ebola Fever Arrived In The Uk Could It Spread...

[sandyRoe]

...here?

[ChillDoubt]

As it is under consideration as an agent in biological warfare I see no reason why it wouldn't represent a threat.

[Sqad]

Yes and bloody fast.

[sandyRoe]

Oh dear. I had hoped it needed the sultry, almost tropical conditions, of equatorial Africa to thrive.
That's another thing to worry about.

[wolf63]

Sandy, I do hope that you are not a fellow Worrier.


Worried of Perth

[Peter Pedant]

Yes definitely - I thought it was an arbo-virus - so you would need the arbo- that is insect vector.

But it aint - very infectious/contagious from bodily fluids. You have to nurse them using a moon-suit.

case mortality which is not a terribly good measure of how lethal it is is around 10%

In terms of Germ warfare, who wants a disease which kills everyone including the invader ? We dont have much of biological warfare industry nowadays - speaking as someone who was a techie at Porton Down in the sixties.....

[anneasquith]

arbo-- virus ?

[ChillDoubt]

Well PP, it clearly has some potential for use in biological warfare, particularly if you don't want a particualr area inhabited for a while:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/bio_ebola.htm

From the link:

As a biological weapons agent, the Ebola virus is feared for its high case-fatality rate. Because of its rarity, the disease may not be diagnosed corrected at the onset of an outbreak. Reports suggested that the Ebola virus was researched and weaponized by the former Soviet Union's biological weapons program Biopreparat. Dr. Ken Alibek, former the First Deputy Director of Biopreparat, speculated that the Russians had aerosolized the Ebola virus for dissemination as a biological weapon. The Japanese terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo reportedly sent members to Zaire during an outbreak to harvest the virus.

[Sqad]

I am not a bacteriologist or biological warfare expert, but take my post as you will.

Terrorists have a big problem with using the Ebola virus for 2 main reasons.

1) Firstly because if its high mortality to humans (90% +) and because no vaccines are available it is kept in high security laboratories, there being only about 4 in the world.....I think.
Then if the terrorist broke into one of these labs he would have the problem of transporting the virus.

Ebola doesn't travel well.

2) The next method would be to send "volunteers" into Ebola outbreaks to get themselves infected(suicide mission or Kama Kazi) and then board a plane to a distant destination.I would have thought that there would be plenty of extremist fanatics willing to do this despite it being a death sentence to themselves.

No.........not a good vector for terrorists.

[boxtops]

Yep

[ChillDoubt]

Exactly, I wouldn't trust a terrorist group to have the facilities nor the wherewithall to deliver such biological weapons.

But a 3rd rate, despotic regime with a psychologically unhinged dictator or a world super power with the infrastructure and technology?
Not a problem.

[sandyRoe]

Wolf63, I do worry a bit about some things. I'd admit Ebola and Marburg aren't near the top of the list.

[Robinia]

Oh no, this was one of my worries of the week last month and I'd just managed to forget about it. I was talking to my sister and she said she thought her OH had it...but as it turned out it was ebayla. :)

Permanently worried,
Derby.

[sandyRoe]

The ebayla virus is dreadful. To see someone you hold dear in the grip of it is heartbreaking, spending money on useless tatt and seemingly no known cure for it.

[DTCwordfan]

Derby - that is so shopping to read about. Poor you.

Truro

[Peter Pedant]

anne - arbo-virus - arthorpod borne virus.

um sqad - I think you're saying you're not a virologist ( oh never mind )
but sqaddie, hey you cant be EVERYTHING !

[Peter Pedant]

Marburg virus didja say ?
There hasnt been an outbreak of that since 1967.

you havent been seeing grivets have you ?

[sandyRoe]

There are bats in the belfry, rats-or at least mice- under the floorboards, but I haven't seen a Grivet since last I was at the zoo

[EcclesCake]

Peter if you are just 61 were you some sort of child prodigy to be working at Porton in the 60's?

[Peter Pedant]

well ebola has jumped a border and possibly two....
so the experiment has started

Ecc I started work at Porton on Jan 1 1969...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2072792/pdf/brjexppathol00402-0006.pdf

not in the habit of thanking techies in those days
so techies such as myself, Peacock, and Linda the luscious lab lady remain all anonymous

[237SJ]

Yes. And do you know what defence we have? A paper mask. I am very happy about that.