"The virus, known as Eastern Equine Encephalitis or Triple E, is regarded as one of the most serious mosquito-borne diseases on the North American continent.
It is found mainly in the eastern regions of the US and has a 35% mortality rate.
'No cure'
Symptoms develop after three to 10 days, and include flu-like illness, inflammation of the brain, coma and death."
Scary stuff
If this guy does survive, I hope people have the sense to store him someplace where there's no chance of a mosquito's gettting to him, drawing his blood, and then going on to infect another.
but how can we avoid mosquitos? they are everywhere. It's impossible to go through the summer without getting bitten, even if you never leave your home.
We just have to hope that we don't get bitten by one carrying this disease.
Bring back DDT
Just be like me, I don't ever get bit by moe-ski-toes! I'll be sitting outside in the summer with my friends and they'll all be scratching at their little red dots and I'll just be laughing! I'm like the king of the moe-ske-toes beyaatch!
yykes wrote: but how can we avoid mosquitos?
Two words.
bubble
boy
present wrote:
If this guy does survive, I hope people have the sense to store him someplace where there's no chance of a mosquito's gettting to him, drawing his blood, and then going on to infect another.
I'm not a scientist, but I believe that this really depends on the specific disease. I believe that many diseases are only likely to be transmitted during certain periods of time. For example, some new research that was discussed briefly in my health econ class suggests that the likelyhood of contracting AIDS from someone who is past the very begining stages is very low and that it generally only passes from one person to another in the very ealy stages. So depending on the specifics of the disease, he might not be much of a public health threat.
Harry Kooter wrote:
For example, some new research that was discussed briefly in my health econ class suggests that the likelyhood of contracting AIDS from someone who is past the very begining stages is very low and that it generally only passes from one person to another in the very ealy stages. So depending on the specifics of the disease, he might not be much of a public health threat.
Careful there, hoss. Turns out that the likelyhood of acquiring HIV is directly proportional to the amount of virus present in the infected person's blood.
Virus levels are very high just after infection because the immune system hasn't been able to start attacking yet. When the anitbodies are finally being produced, about 6 weeks after infection, the amount of virus in the blood drops sharply to near zero. This is what your professor was reffering to. It's also why you're not supposed to have sex for 6 months after a possible infection: the test looks for antibodies, which aren't there in sufficient quantities yet, and the test misses the most infectious period.
However, as we all know, HIV causes AIDS, i.e. eventually the immune system can't fight off the virus anymore, and the amount of virus present in the blood goes way up, close to the levels just after infection. This happens after about 7 years, on average. So even though the probability of passing on the virus decreases dramatically after about 6 weeks, after 7 years the probability goes way back up again.
In other words, Harry Kooter, neither you nor I know much about Eastern Equine Encephalitis's lifecycle in the human body. Be careful about parrotting someone else's interpretation of scientific findings, especially when you're trying to make conclusions about a very different system.
cassio598 wrote:
Be careful about parrotting someone else's interpretation of scientific findings, especially when you're trying to make conclusions about a very different system.
I wasn't really trying to make any conclusions about this guys disease. I was simply saying that it is possible that he wouldn't have to be quarantined depending on the specifics of how this disease works.