Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. A recently identified virus that causes bleeding similar to the Ebola virus has been discovered in Africa late last week.
Already killing four of the five people it has infected, the Lujo virus, named after Lusaka, Zambia and Johannesburg, the cities it originated in, has proved to be more lethal than its Ebola counterpart.
Comparably, 50% to 90% of people inflected with Ebola die; whereas 4 of the 5 cases of Lujo have been fatal.
It spread quickly; the first case was a travel agent outside of Lusaka who became ill, and quickly got worse. She died after being airlifted to Johannesburg. The paramedic who treated her in Lusaka became infected, along with three health workers in Johannesburg.
Although researchers are not sure how the first patient was infected, Lujo comes from a family of viruses that is often found in rodents. Inhaling dust infected with rodent waste was likely the first contamination, followed by spreading through body fluids.
Blood and liver samples from the deceased were sent to the United States, where tests determined it belonged to the arenavirus family, and distantly related to Lassa fever, another disease found in Africa.
Lassa victims are given ribavirin; the drug was also given to the fifth Lujo patient, who then combated the virus. Researchers noted they it wasn’t clear whether it was the treatment or just a milder case of the disease.
“The research is a startling example of how quickly scientists can now identify new viruses,” commented Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the research. Their techniques identified the virus in a few days, as opposed to the weeks it used to take.
Along with Fauci’s institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Google also helped fund the research.
A paper on the virus by Lipkin and his collaborators was published online Thursday on in PLoS Pathogens.
Image courtesy of dad2059.wordpress.com
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Discussion Take a look at what is being said about this article.
Jeff Davies, on June 5th, 2009 says:
how horrifying! amazing how these things can spread.
Irene C., on June 5th, 2009 says:
goodness, hopefully they can find and end to this consistently.
enviro-lover, on June 6th, 2009 says:
crazy……..
Doc Natural, on June 15th, 2009 says:
CURE for FLU!!!!!
Put 30ml or 2 table spoons of vinegar in a glass of water and drink this every 8 hours! organic apple cider vinegar is best for taste, but, ANY vinegar will work.
This is as I myself and other adult friends have tested and found to be true. If for a small child, I suspect the dose might be reduced in size, perhaps 15 ml to half glass of water or according to weight of person.
BOTH a cold and the flu are virus, this cure works for both! As every person may have small variations in body chemistry it may not be as effective for every person, but as I have personally seen, it works for most people.
Note: If this is taken at the FIRST signs of flu, very early, it can kill it completely. If taken a little late, it will still reduce all symptoms by about 90 percent, both time-wise and severity-wise.
As to why it works I don’t care because I am sooo happy to have such a natural cure as well as cheap. My only theory is that many small organisms need a very specific PH (acid) environment to live and vinegar changes it enough to kill them off or weaken them so that the immune system can take care of the rest.
Originally I read an article from a natural doctor about his patient with HIV taking this exact recipe for severe upset stomach and having his viral load go down to NOT DETECTABLE levels! I then made my own theory that cold and flu both being a virus as well, it would also work on them. Boy did it EVER!
EcoCleanHome, on June 15th, 2009 says:
@Doc Natural,
yes the vinegar works on viruses, I’ve used it too for already 2 winters and it works just fine! The theory I know is similar to yours – the acid breaks the protein cover of most of the viruses, including as you mentioned it HIV. Who knows it can be the cure for any virus, why don’t they try it with such scary infections they have in Africa ? It’s cheap !