Ebola virus breakout in Uganda
Last edited Sun Jul 29, 2012, 01:03 AM - Edit history (1)
13 people contracted it, it is thought they all got the virus at a funeral.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19031860
I am not an expert in this field. But I find it interesting to observe the differences in the really virulent strains of viruses in the world.
HIV: very narrow transmission path, pretty much blood or other interior body fluids, does not move through the air and incubates without any signs or symptoms for many years. Infectious for a very long time with little symptomatic indication.
Ebola: has a very wide transmission path; through the air, through body fluids even perspiration. Shows symptoms very quickly days in fact with obvious coughing and bleeding from body orifices. Heavily infectious at the time. Kills the host within days.
My point is to show as a layman how each organism is so different but with essentially the same goal to kill the host but with very different schedules and routes toward that end.
There are other viruses as well, Herpes, Hepatitis, and others i don't know the names of, all with a different "plan" of sorts.
As I said I am no expert, any incorrect statements above may be corrected.