"Worst Ever" Outbreak Of Hemmoragic Fever, Marburg Prompts Attacks On Aid

[DistressedAmerican]

Workers.

We've got AIDS, SARS, Freaking Bird Flu and now this nasty bugger...
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/04/09/marburg.angola.reuters.reut/index.html

-Snip-

Attacks on medics in virus battle
No cure for infection

Saturday, April 9, 2005 Posted: 5:27 PM EDT (2127 GMT)

LUANDA, Angola (Reuters) -- World Health Organization (WHO) teams fighting an outbreak of Marburg virus in Angola were forced to temporarily suspend work in one area after scared residents stoned their vehicles, officials said on Saturday.

WHO halted operations in parts of the Uige district in northwestern Angola on Friday following the attacks on Thursday. Residents apparently feared the medics could be spreading the infection that has already claimed 184 lives, some of them health workers.

WHO said later on Saturday it had restarted the campaign in Uige, epicenter of the outbreak.

Angola's Health Department, releasing the latest death toll figures, said there had been a total of 213 cases, making it the worst outbreak of the disease yet
-end snip-

[rodeodance]

1. There is no cure for Marburg--I would extremely frightened also

There is no cure for Marburg, first contracted by researchers in the German town of the same name from African monkeys. Marburg's monkey-to-human transmission is similar to the Ebola virus.

[Swamp Rat]

2. we're all gonna die

someday. :)

[DistressedAmerican]

4. You Gotta Admit This Is A Bad Way To Do It!

[applegrove]

3. Those poor people in Angola. First War..now this!

[DistressedAmerican]

5. kick!

[smirkymonkey]

6. I hate to sound callous, but with the exception of AIDS the other

viruses do not seem highly transmittable. It is unfortunate that people have died from them, but the numbers don't seem all that alarming given the size of the population.

How many sick and elderly die of the ordinary strains of flu we have each year?

These diseases are frightening because they have no know cure, but the slow rate of transmission and apparent containability, even in areas with sub-standard healthcare, seems to indicate that they are not very hearty strains.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Over the past 10 years about 36,000 Americans die from the flu every year

No headlines for that though. Where is the CDC or the WHO on that?

Don

:hide:

[NNN0LHI]

8. An estimated half a million people die from the flu each year worldwide

Another estimated half a million children die each year from diseases related to diarrhea due to a lack of clean drinking water.

Don

[smirkymonkey]

9. However, we never hear about those statistics.

It like the chances of dying in a car accident vs. a plane crash.

Your chances of dying in a car accident are much greater, but you only hear about the plane crashes. Much more sensational that your ordinary roadway accident.

That's kind of how I see these daily diseases that kill thousands vs. the Marburg type viruses that get all the hype.

[NNN0LHI]

10. And a lot of people think the Marburg virus is something new too

It was first discovered in 1967. I would just think that if it hasn't spread to the US since 1967 chances of it spreading here in the future are slim to non-existent. But none of the "experts" mention that for some reason? But since the Avian flu season is just about played out now someone felt it was necessary to break out some new killer virus to scare the masses with. Kind of reminds me of the shark scare stories from a couple of years ago. Actual shark attacks were down that year, yet thats all we heard about for an entire summer. They had me so scared of getting near the water I was afraid to take a bath.

Don

[RBHam]

11. Why did these people attack these health workers?

However unfounded, these natives may believe that the white men are BRINGING the virus...

I do not attest to this site's veracity...but, hey, this is the internet...

Bio-TERRORISM
Who or What, is The Threat?

http://www.jubilee-newspaper.com/bio_terrorism_10-5.htm

[NNN0LHI]

12. I suspect they may have heard about our history of giving...

...measles infected blankets to the indigenous people of North America? And our more recent history of how we treated people of color at Abu Grahib prison. I am afraid the mistrust of Americans runs very deep. We never learn.

Don

[DistressedAmerican]

13. Let's Not Forget Our Outsatnding Record In Rawanda And Sudan...

I wouldn't trust us either. It is very sad!