3 ms·

Ebola was big in the 90's, even made a best-selling book and film about it (with Dustin Hoffman) but it only impacted certain African nations, and for decades.

by sbf501 4y ago

Ebola was big in the 90's, even made a best-selling book and film about it (with Dustin Hoffman) but it only impacted certain African nations, and for decades. I feel the same way as you, and my gut tells me it is a little of both: an actual scary virus that probably won't explode COVID-like, but media hype worthy because every new outbreak of something awful has always been good sensationalism. I look at articles from science sources versus USA Today-like sources for my own opinion.

HideousKojima 4y ago
There were at least two Tom Clancy novels about ebola as well (though it was a genetically modified and weaponized version in one of those instances)
- Abishek_Muthian 4y ago
  Since we are sharing Ebola in pop fiction, There is 2008 Tamil movie with a weaponized Ebola[1] as well. [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479651/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479651/
qsdf38100 4y ago
I have an alternative. Maybe it’s not sensationalism, maybe it’s just that journalists do not know the future, and this could potentially become a significant health issue.
Terry_Roll 4y ago
So I got to spend an afternoon with one of those mad scientists from Porton Down, the UK biological and chemicals weapon testing place. The stuff they have there makes Ebola look like a walk in the park. So there are parts of the body the immune system cant go, like the gonads, and eyes, the viruses like Ebola can get in there like toxoplasmosis (eye floaters from cat faeces) and then you become a carrier. Men can pass on Ebola through semen which was being seen in Africa not so long ago and yet still test negative for Ebola! And then there is global warming like the Artic permafrost thawing that has the potential to release long since forgotten threats. https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Permafrost_thaw_could_release_bacteria_and_viruses https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Permafr... So with increased numbers of people travelling and the global population going up, the risks keep going up so I'm not surprised WHO want to take control of this globally. At least they issued a directorate to reduce the number of cycles a PCR test goes through. Putting aside somewhere between 80 and 85 different PCR testing machines, which are not standardised, some countries were only using a cycle threshold of 18 whilst others were using a higher cycle threshold of 45. The cycle threshold can be likened to microscope magnifications, at some point the fluorescence of past viral debris will show up like a live virus the higher the cycle threshold goes. Now with out this WHO directorate, you would probably be seeing more lockdowns in some parts of the world and other parts spreading Covid like wildfire. Sure its hard to argue things could have been better or worst when we cant jump into parallel universes, but COVID isnt over yet and monkeypox could trigger more lockdowns. It also shows that countries need global guidance.
- sbf501 4y ago
  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the WHO and CDC and similar orgs shouldn't be all over this, but maybe the press should wait until the experts start sounding alarms, instead of sounding it themselves? I honestly don't know, given the train wreck that happened with COVID.
  - Terry_Roll 4y ago
    The news is a soap opera for serious people.

by sbf501 4y ago

HideousKojima 4y ago

There were at least two Tom Clancy novels about ebola as well (though it was a genetically modified and weaponized version in one of those instances)

Abishek_Muthian 4y ago
Since we are sharing Ebola in pop fiction, There is 2008 Tamil movie with a weaponized Ebola[1] as well. [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479651/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479651/

qsdf38100 4y ago

I have an alternative. Maybe it’s not sensationalism, maybe it’s just that journalists do not know the future, and this could potentially become a significant health issue.

Terry_Roll 4y ago

So I got to spend an afternoon with one of those mad scientists from Porton Down, the UK biological and chemicals weapon testing place. The stuff they have there makes Ebola look like a walk in the park. So there are parts of the body the immune system cant go, like the gonads, and eyes, the viruses like Ebola can get in there like toxoplasmosis (eye floaters from cat faeces) and then you become a carrier. Men can pass on Ebola through semen which was being seen in Africa not so long ago and yet still test negative for Ebola! And then there is global warming like the Artic permafrost thawing that has the potential to release long since forgotten threats. https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Permafrost_thaw_could_release_bacteria_and_viruses https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Permafr... So with increased numbers of people travelling and the global population going up, the risks keep going up so I'm not surprised WHO want to take control of this globally. At least they issued a directorate to reduce the number of cycles a PCR test goes through. Putting aside somewhere between 80 and 85 different PCR testing machines, which are not standardised, some countries were only using a cycle threshold of 18 whilst others were using a higher cycle threshold of 45. The cycle threshold can be likened to microscope magnifications, at some point the fluorescence of past viral debris will show up like a live virus the higher the cycle threshold goes. Now with out this WHO directorate, you would probably be seeing more lockdowns in some parts of the world and other parts spreading Covid like wildfire. Sure its hard to argue things could have been better or worst when we cant jump into parallel universes, but COVID isnt over yet and monkeypox could trigger more lockdowns. It also shows that countries need global guidance.

sbf501 4y ago
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the WHO and CDC and similar orgs shouldn't be all over this, but maybe the press should wait until the experts start sounding alarms, instead of sounding it themselves? I honestly don't know, given the train wreck that happened with COVID.
- Terry_Roll 4y ago
  The news is a soap opera for serious people.