RE: Lassa fever12 Feb 2022 00:13
@sonic thats the worry, without wishing to stray into hyperbole, category 4 pathogens, have a couple of limiting factors, the first is that they Normally kill ppl pretty quickly before they can infect lots of others.
The second is that they are non airborne, its usually transmitted via contamination with infected body fluids.
If a pathogen as virulent as Lassa or ebola was to become airborne then the planet would have a serious problem.
Imagine a virus thats as contagious as covid being as deadly as category 4 pathogens.
The thing with viruses is that they are very gregarious and like to share info (in a genetic sense) when the both get together in a common host, ie humans.
A
This is highly, highly unlikely, however its a cause for some concern.
Think this will never happen ? Its already happened at least once.
Monkeys captured in Africa and transported to mainland USA, Washington DC of all places, were found to be infected with Ebola, during their time in USA, they developed a form of Ebola that was airborne. Luckily for the planet, the mutation reduced the pathogenicity of the Ebola so it was never a serious problem. I read a non fiction book about this called the Hot Zone, if memory serves.
We are playing with fire here, there's no rhyme or reason to the outcome of 2 viruses mixing.
Lassa fever outbreaks are extremely rare in the UK, to have one now with the prevalence of Covid has made my ears price up.
Management of patients with Lassa, is a completely different ballgame cf covid.
We probably have a dozen beds at most in the UK capable of looking after them.
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