Can Ebola spread into the environment in North America?

[Brian4Liberty]

Can Ebola spread into the environment in North America?
By Brian4Liberty - October 13, 2014

(RPF) - Up until now, the focus of the Ebola outbreak has been on the spread of the virus in the human population. What is much less discussed is the reservoir of Ebola in other animals. There are many theories as to the endemic presence of Ebola in bats and "bush meat" in certain areas of Africa, which is possibly the source of Ebola outbreaks up until now. One troubling aspect of animal infection is that it is often asymptomatic, and does not kill the animals. Good news for the animals, bad news for primates and humans, where the virus is often fatal.

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Workers wash vomit from Dallas Ebola patient into the gutter

"Monkeys, antelopes, fruit bats, porcupines, rodents, dogs, and pigs are all known to contract Ebola." (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/09/1335065/-Plague-Rats-and-Expats-Ebola-s-Silent-Spread-in-American-Wildlife)

One hint to this concern that does make the mainstream media is the treatment of the pet dogs of the two nurses infected in Spain and the US. In Spain the dog was put down. In the US, the dog is now in quarantine. Dogs can catch the virus, and they have no symptoms. Can they pass it on to humans? No one knows for sure, but we all know how intimate our relationships are with our pets. "Bodily fluid" contact? Inevitable.

If your dog Fido catches a rat or bat that harbors the Ebola virus, could Fido bring it on home to you?

And beyond our pets, could Ebola become endemic to animals in the North American environment? We have diseases such as the bubonic plague and rabies that currently reside in the Northern American environment. But these diseases usually negatively effect the animals as well as humans. It is easier to spot, and we vaccinate our pets against these diseases. What about a disease that has no symptoms in the animals?

How could this escape into the environment? One would have to follow the bodily fluids of Ebola infected patients. What animals have access to the sewage system? Which animals might ingest vomit from an infected person, especially if that vomit is outdoors somewhere?

Inquiring minds want to know, but the CDC and government spokespeople have avoided the subject like the plague.

[Brian4Liberty]

Related:


Spain, Amid Protests, Destroys Dog of Ebola-Infected Nurse
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Mr. Skinner said the disease centers were recommending that Ebola patients with dogs or cats at home “evaluate the animal’s risk of exposure,” meaning they should assess how likely it is that the animal has ingested bodily fluids like blood, vomit and feces from the patient. If the animal has been exposed, it should be monitored for 21 days, the incubation period for the disease.

Mr. Skinner said the C.D.C. was working with the American Veterinary Medical Association to study the issue and develop guidance for pets in the United States.

In a 2005 study of dogs in Gabon done after an Ebola outbreak in 2001-02, researchers found that dogs can be infected with the virus, but that they show no symptoms.

The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a C.D.C. journal, tested dogs in two villages in the heart of the Ebola outbreak, as well as dogs in a city with some human Ebola cases, dogs in distant villages and a control group of dogs in France. Of 159 dogs tested from the two villages, 40 had Ebola antibodies in their blood.
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More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/science/ebola-dog-excalibur-nurse-spain.html

[Brian4Liberty]

Related:



Ebola's Deadly Jump From Animal to Animal
by Jennifer Viegas

Ebola may be present in more animals than previously thought, according to researchers studying the deadly virus, which has already been detected in chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, antelopes, porcupines, rodents, dogs, pigs and humans.

Humans and other primates appear to be particularly susceptible to at least certain strains of the virus. During the present outbreak ravaging Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola has killed 670 people so far and infected more than 1,000.
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According to the World Health Organization, humans can get Ebola through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals (including other humans), so people who consume or otherwise handle certain bush meat are at particular risk. Eating infected non-human primates doesn't tell the whole story, however.
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Sanders and his team found that the way Ebola infects human cells is nearly identical -- both structurally and biochemically -- to the way that similar viruses enter bird cells. This suggests that the proteins of the virus had a comparatively recent ancestor.

"It is therefore possible that Ebola was at one time associated with a bird host and may even be so today," Sanders said, adding that the bird must hail from Central Africa. That is where the virus was first detected in 1976 and where outbreaks usually occur.

Even plants and insects could have played some role in the evolution of the virus, as Thomas Monath of the Harvard School of Public Health has proposed. Monath postulated that a nonpathogenic virus in insects and/or plants might have mutated, giving rise to Ebola in bats.

Blaming humans, bats, chimps or birds for the illness does not then take into account its full possible scope within the ecosystem. That, the present unprecedented epidemic, the potential for bioterrorism, and the fact that no vaccine is available for clinical use have scientists around the world paying greater attention to Ebola and to the animals it can infect.

Sanders and his colleagues continue to study birds and their possible role in Ebola's evolution and transmission. They are also attempting to determine what other animals might be added to the already long list of species that the virus and related viruses could impact.
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More:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/ebolas-deadly-jump-from-animal-to-animal-140730.htm

[Brian4Liberty]

Related:


Plague Rats and Expats: Ebola's Spread in American Wildlife?

Troubling research shows that many common animals in the United States are capable of contracting Ebola. With Ebola-infected sewage already introduced into the landfills and sewer systems of at least one major city, there is an unsettling possibility that wildlife could become infected with the deadly virus.
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In monkeys, Ebola is rapidly fatal. Horses and goats show mild or no symptoms, though they may be briefly contagious before they clear the virus from their systems.i Pigs show severe lung symptoms, and are quite contagious, spreading the virus short distances when they breathe.ii When dogs contract Ebola, they produce antibodies but display no symptoms of the disease. Whether or not infected dogs can pass the virus on to humans is unknown.iii
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Nonetheless, there is a less-extreme scenario that is within the realm of possibility. If Ebola finds a suitable animal host in the United States, the virus could be here to stay. Ebola could become endemic in the United States, and America could find itself in the same situation as Africa– experiencing a minor outbreak every few years. Ebola would become part of the American landscape, and every few years unlucky hunters, hikers, farmers, and pet owners could touch an infected animal and become sick.

This scenario is not too far fetched. There are already very small amounts of the virus escaping our hospitals and quarantines. Ebola victim Thomas Duncan spent two days in a Dallas apartment sweating and vomiting before being admitted to a hospital. This highly infectious waste all entered the Dallas sewers and landfills. An NBC film crew and Duncan's family are currently being quarantined, yet they are still depositing waste into public sewer systems. The potential risks are obvious in allowing this sewage to come into contact with sewer rodents before eventually being purified in wastewater treatment plants. Thankfully Ebola can't survive long in pure water, however the virus can survive for several days in body fluids such as feces, urine, and semen.

Even recent survivors could present a small risk of wildlife contagion. The CDC says Ebola can be found in semen for up to three months after recovery, and advises survivors to abstain from sex or use condoms for three months. This implies that recent Ebola survivors could still be releasing small amounts of the virus into sewers and landfills in their home states.

In the end, it all comes down to luck. It would take a series of very unlikely events for Ebola to travel from our sewage and trash all the way to a permanent animal host. But the more patients, quarantines, and survivors there are out there shedding the virus, the more likely this scenario becomes. It's important that health officials consider wildlife exposure when deciding on waste-disposal safety practices.
...
More:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/09/1335065/-Plague-Rats-and-Expats-Ebola-s-Silent-Spread-in-American-Wildlife

[moostraks]

Aren't you a little ray of sunshine? Well, here's to hoping and praying it doesn't take hold in the animal community here. That is some scary reading.

[jon4liberty]

Hopefully everyone is stocked up on Nano Silver!!! I have a feeling this will be another H1N1 or the bird flu. Next year " What was that Ebola thing?" or......maybe they might get some use of those FEMA camps....

[Brian4Liberty]

Related:


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Fact is though, Ebola is an animal-borne disease - always has been. Wild animals will start getting infected with this new human-Ebola -probably soon- not later. Ebola-susceptible animals include pigs, dogs, rodents, porcupines, antelopes, monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas and of course, the fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family - suspected to be the main carrier and Ebola reservoir. Once animals start passing this Ebola around to each other, back to people, round and round, back and forth - Ebola will be "endemic."

Many Ebola-susceptible animals are migratory, meaning they move from one region to another, often with the seasons. Of note: Pig-to-pig Ebola transmission is airborne, as is pig-to-monkey transmission. Pigs and dogs, at least, are eating Ebola-infected corpses. Ebola is a respiratory disease in pigs, and dogs get infected but are asymptomatic.
...
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1033984/pg1

[Brian4Liberty]

Related:


Can Dogs (And Other Animals) Get Ebola?
Naina Bajekal

The proposed euthanization of a dog belonging to a Spanish nurse infected with Ebola prompts questions about whether animals can transmit Ebola to humans

The Ebola virus can be found across the animal kingdom, from bats and birds to pigs and porcupines. But there is a difference between having a disease and transmitting it to another animal—or another species.
...
The researchers concluded that “dogs could be a potential source of human Ebola outbreaks and of virus spread during human outbreaks,” but they did not test their hypothesis that human infection could occur through licking, biting or grooming. Instead, the study assumed dogs would transmit the infection in the same way as other animals observed in experiments; those animals excreted viral particles (in saliva, urine, feces) for a short period before the virus was cleared.
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Until 2009 no one knew that pigs could carry Ebola, because they show no symptoms of the disease. Three years after a case in the Philippines showed Ebola transmission between pigs and farmers, Canadian scientists found that apparently healthy pigs could pass on the most deadly strain of Ebola (the Zaire-Ebola virus) to monkeys without direct contact.
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Should we worry?

Scientists have yet to confirm Ebola’s natural host—the animal that naturally holds the infection and is a primary source for the spread of the disease—but transmitting the virus is a different issue. Since “lethal disease has only thus far been seen in humans and primates and a few species of wild animals, it would appear that the main route of transmission is human to human contact,” says John Blackwell, President of the British Veterinary Association, an organization that often issues advice when animal-related diseases could affect the general public.

He adds that the course of disease in dogs and their role in transmission is not yet known, but “it would be a sensible precaution” to observe strict quarantine measures for animals in contact with a confirmed or suspected case of Ebola. As the Madrid nurse and her husband continue to campaign to save their dog from being put down, it remains to be seen what precautions the Spanish government will take in order to contain the spread of the Ebola virus.
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More:
http://time.com/3480961/ebola-animals-transmission/

[Brian4Liberty]

Aren't you a little ray of sunshine? Well, here's to hoping and praying it doesn't take hold in the animal community here. That is some scary reading.

You're welcome? :o

I would prefer to talk about science and real possibilities. The CDC would prefer to simply say "all is well, nothing to worry about". Their arrogance has brought Ebola to the US.

[puppetmaster]

Then another case reported today from a protected health care worker

[Brian4Liberty]

Then another case reported today from a protected health care worker

"But, but, but our healthcare system is the best in the world! It can't happen here! It's only transmitted by contact with bodily fluids, just like AIDs! Those nurses did something wrong."

/s

[pcosmar]

Then another case reported today from a protected health care worker

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-search-widens-flight-taken-infected-nurse-n226471

The healthcare worker exhibited no signs or symptoms of illness while on flight 1143, according to the crew

Air waitresses are also highly trained diagnosticians. :rolleyes:

(can you believe they actually printed that stupid shit?)

[Brian4Liberty]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-search-widens-flight-taken-infected-nurse-n226471

Air waitresses are also highly trained diagnosticians. :rolleyes:

(can you believe they actually printed that stupid shit?)

They actually said on CNN that we are depending upon the honesty of this nurse who broke voluntary quarantine to know whether she was contagious on that flight.

Edit: This story has changed completely. Now we know that the CDC gave her permission to fly, and their current excuse is that protocol states that if she was wearing "appropriate personal protective equipment" while treating an Ebola patient, then she had no travel restrictions. Of course this criteria completely ignores the well-known fact that protected caregivers are constantly contracting Ebola in Africa.

[Suzu]

How could ebola escape into the environment? One word: mosquitoes.

[Brian4Liberty]

How could ebola escape into the environment? One word: mosquitoes.

I believe that vector has been ruled out for now. But you never know about the future as the virus mutates.

[Dr.3D]

"But, but, but our healthcare system is the best in the world! It can't happen here! It's only transmitted by contact with bodily fluids, just like AIDs! Those nurses did something wrong. They must have had sex with the patient."

/s
I can only think they are trying to be politically correct and treat this virus like AIDS. With AIDS they keep it a secret if somebody has it. I hope they don't think it's a good idea to keep it a secret when people have Ebola.