Ebola, Bubonic Plague-They’re Back

Actually these old diseases never really left, but they've made it back into the headlines recently.

Ebola is a viral disease that effects humans and can be transmitted to us by contact with infected primates (monkeys), pigs, and/or fruit bats. Once it infects humans it becomes ‘airborne’ meaning transmitted through the air and of course the Ebola virus can also be transmitted through bodily fluids. Ebola starts out with fever, muscle aches, sore throat, and flu-like symptoms and progresses to bleeding problems, hence the designation, hemorrhagic. There is no cure for this disease and it kills from 50 to 90 percent of the people infected. Its origin is in Africa and there is an outbreak of this deadly disease there right now. There is an ongoing effort to develop a vaccine and some other experimental drugs to stem the tide of deaths from Ebola.

Bubonic Plague (or Black Death as it was called in medieval times) is spread by the rats and their companion fleas. These plague bacteria (transmitted by flea bite) enter the body through the skin and travel through the lymphatic system. Without treatment, the bubonic plague kills about two thirds of infected humans within four days. With treatment, especially with in the first 24 hours, the infected person’s prognosis improves. The plague if properly diagnosed can at this time be treated and cured with antibiotics that weren't available in the 14^th century when it killed 25 million people, (30 to 60 percent of the entire population of Europe at that time). Just last month the Chinese government sealed off a city of more than 100,000 people, fearing the spread of a plague outbreak. More than 151 people exposed to the deadly disease were quarantined in that time, and one middle-aged man died from the infamous bacterial infection.

Ok, now that I’m done here I’m going to wash my hands and spray myself with some insect repellent!