Ebola news 11/2

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola-carrying bats may be heroes as well as villains
Reuters
By Ben Hirschler  5 hours ago



Fruit bats are seen for sale at a food market in Brazzavile, Republic of Congo, in this file photograph dated December 15, 2005. Bats are living up to their frightening reputation in the world's worst Ebola outbreak as prime suspects for spreading the deadly virus to humans, but scientists believe they may also shed valuable light on fighting infection. Bats can carry more than 100 different viruses, including Ebola, rabies and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), without getting sick themselves. REUTERS/Jiro Ose/Files



LONDON (Reuters) - Bats are living up to their frightening reputation in the world's worst Ebola outbreak as prime suspects for spreading the deadly virus to humans, but scientists believe they may also shed valuable light on fighting infection.

Bats can carry more than 100 different viruses, including Ebola, rabies and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), without becoming sick themselves.

While that makes them a fearsome reservoir of disease, especially in the forests of Africa where they migrate vast distances, it also opens the intriguing possibility that scientists might learn their trick in keeping killers like Ebola at bay.

"If we can understand how they do it then that could lead to better ways to treat infections that are highly lethal in people and other mammals," said Olivier Restif, a researcher at the University of Cambridge in Britain.

Clues are starting to emerge following gene analysis, which suggest bats' capacity to evade Ebola could be linked with their other stand-out ability -- the power of flight.

Flying requires the bat metabolism to run at a very high rate, causing stress and potential cell damage, and experts think bats may have developed a mechanism to limit this damage by having parts of their immune system permanently switched on.

The threat to humans from bats comes en route to the dinner plate. Bushmeat -- from bats to antelopes, squirrels, porcupines and monkeys -- has long held pride of place on menus in West and Central Africa. The danger of contracting Ebola lies in exposure to infected blood in the killing and preparation of animals.


NATURAL HOSTS

Scientists studying Ebola since its discovery in 1976 in Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, have long suspected fruit bats as being the natural hosts, though the link to humans is sometimes indirect as fruit dropped by infected bats can easily be picked up by other species, spreading the virus to animals such as monkeys.

This nexus of infection in wildlife leads to sporadic Ebola outbreaks following human contact with blood or other infected animal fluids.

This no doubt happened in the current outbreak, although the scale of the crisis now gripping Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which has killed around 5,000 people, reflects subsequent public health failures.

"What is happening now is a public health disaster rather than a problem of wildlife management," said Marcus Rowcliffe at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which runs London Zoo.

Bats' role in spreading Ebola is probably a function both of their huge numbers, where they rank second only to rodents among mammals in the world, as well as their unusual immune system, according to Michelle Baker of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency.

Baker, who is intrigued by bats' ability to live in "equilibrium" with viruses, published a paper with colleagues in the journal Nature last year looking at bat genomes. They found an unexpected concentration of genes for repairing DNA damage, hinting at a link between flying and immunity.

"(This) raises the interesting possibility that flight-induced adaptations have had inadvertent effects on bat immune function and possibly also life expectancy," they wrote.


UNDERSTANDING BATS

As well as tolerating viruses, bats are also amazingly long-lived. The tiny Brandt's bat, a resident of Europe and Asia, has been recorded living for more than 40 years, even though it is barely the size of a mouse. Bats also rarely get cancer.

"We are just at the beginning," Baker said in a telephone interview. "But if we can understand how bats are dealing with these viruses and if we can redirect the immune system of other species to react in the same way, then that could be a potential therapeutic approach."

It won't be easy. Turning on components of the immune system can bring its own health problems, but the idea -- which has yet to get beyond the basic research stage -- is to turn up certain elements to achieve a better balance.

One reason why Ebola is so deadly to people is that the virus attacks the immune system and when the system finally comes back it goes into over-drive, causing extra damage.

Ebola works in part by blocking interferon, an anti-virus molecule, which Baker has found to be "up-regulated", meaning it is found in higher levels, in bats.


VENISON, WITH WINGS

The bat immune system may or may not lead to new drugs one day. Still, experts argue there are plenty of other reasons to cherish bats, which also play a vital role in pollination and controlling insect pests.

They are also a traditional source of protein in West Africa, often served in a spicy stew, and restrictions on bushmeat consumption are now contributing to food shortages in parts of West Africa, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Hunting and butchering bats may be risky but cooking is thought to make them safe. The World Health Organization advises animals should be handled with "gloves and other appropriate protective clothing" and meat should be "thoroughly cooked".

"In the long run it would be sensible to see people moving away from hunting bats but in the short term they provide an important source of food," said Rowcliffe of ZSL.

"Essentially, wild meat is a good, healthy product. People in Britain eat venison and rabbit, and in many ways it's no different to that."


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-carrying-bats-may-heroes-well-villains-105559017.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Oregon resident hospitalized for possible Ebola virus infection
Reuters
By Courtney Sherwood  October 31, 2014 6:40 PM



PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - An Oregon woman being monitored for possible Ebola infection has been hospitalized after registering a high temperature, state health officials said on Friday.

The woman, who was being monitored after traveling to an Ebola-affected country, has been placed in isolation and is not a danger to the public, the Oregon Health Authority said.

The worst outbreak of the disease on record has killed nearly 5,000 people, all but a handful in the impoverished West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The Oregon isolation comes as a judge rejected Maine's bid for a quarantine on a nurse who treated victims of the disease in West Africa but tested negative for it. The judge instead imposed limited restrictions.

Also on Friday the Pentagon said that civilian U.S. defense employees returning from Ebola relief work in West Africa must undergo monitoring to ensure they are free of disease but can choose between following civil health guidelines or the stricter military regimen.

(Reporting by Courtney Sherwood in Portland, Oregon; Writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Beech)


http://news.yahoo.com/oregon-resident-hospitalized-possible-ebola-virus-infection-222355019.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Maine nurse sees Ebola quarantines as 'abundance of politics'
Reuters  2 hours ago



Nurse Kaci Hickox (L) joined by her boyfriend Ted Wilbur speak with the media outside of their home in Fort Kent, Maine October 31, 2014. REUTERS/Joel Page



(Reuters) - A U.S. nurse who challenged quarantines of health care workers returning from treating West African Ebola patients said on Sunday she thought "an abundance of politics" lurked behind them.

Kaci Hickox has fought a heated public battle over what she considers draconian measures to isolate her for 21 days after her return from Sierra Leone, in a case that highlights the dilemma over how to balance public health needs and personal liberty.

In some U.S. states officials such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have imposed strict quarantines on health workers returning from three Ebola-ravaged West African countries, but the U.S. federal government opposes such measures.

"When Governor Christie stated that it was an abundance of caution, which is his reasoning for putting health care workers in a sort of quarantine for three weeks, it was really an abundance of politics," Hickox said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press".

"And I think all of the scientific and medical and public health community agrees with me on that statement," she said.

Christie has defended his decision to impose a mandatory three-week quarantine, saying that counting on a voluntary system may or may not work and that protecting health and safety is the government's job.



Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie speaks during a news conference about New York's first case of Ebola, in New York October 24, 2014. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri


The most deadly outbreak of Ebola on record has killed nearly 5,000 people, all but a handful of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.


ISOLATION TENT

Hickox tested negative for Ebola after returning recently from working for Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone. But she was placed in an isolation tent in New Jersey when she returned before being allowed to leave for Maine, which also sought to quarantine her at home.

A judge in Maine on Friday rejected that state's bid to quarantine Hickox, instead imposing limited restrictions on her. The judge said that Hickox must continue direct monitoring of her health, coordinate travel plans with health officials and report any symptoms.

"We know a lot about Ebola," Hickox told Meet the Press. "We know that it's not transmitted from someone who is asymptomatic, as I am and many other aid workers will be when they return."



Traffic drives past Bellevue Hospital where Dr. Craig Spencer is currently recovering from Ebola in New York October 27, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson


Speaking to NBC from Fort Kent, Maine, Hickox indicated she would continue to stay away from crowds in her community, but that her partner, Ted Wilbur, should be allowed to go back to nursing school on Monday.

"I understand that the community has been through a lot in the past week and I do, you know, apologize to them for that," she told NBC.

"I will not go into town, into crowded public places ... But on the other hand, you know, my partner is currently in nursing school and there is definitely zero scientific evidence that says he shouldn't be allowed to return to his campus on Monday."

Only one person in the United States is currently being treated for Ebola, a New York doctor, Craig Spencer, who cared for patients in West Africa. His condition was upgraded by New York City health officials on Saturday to "stable" from "serious but stable" at Bellevue Hospital.

In Oregon, test results were awaited for a woman with a fever who was hospitalized in an isolation unit on Friday after returning from West Africa, Oregon health officials said.

She had not come into known contact with Ebola patients while in Africa, the officials added.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwall in Washington; Editing by Gareth Jones)


http://news.yahoo.com/maine-nurse-sees-ebola-quarantines-abundance-politics-181920875.html