Extract from Dr Osterholm's speech at the John Hopkins symposium

[Donners]

?Today I?ve been given permission [to share] something I?ve known about for a few weeks that has concerned me greatly. Gary Kobinger and colleagues at Winnipeg Canadian National lab actually took one of the strains from Guinea and put it into Macaques a little over a month and a half ago. What they saw was remarkable. It was unlike any of the Ebola viruses they?ve seen in monkeys. It was much, much more severe; the pathology in the lungs was remarkable. As Gary [Kobinger] said, [and he] is one of the most prominent Ebola virologists in the world, ?[what I saw] was very worrisome to me.? Maybe this is a different virus. Maybe there is that possibility that if you have that much virus in the lungs [then airborne transmission is possible]. Maybe somebody might cough it up and maybe you might get a cycle. Now I?m? not saying that to scare people. Plan B; what the hell are we going to do if we suddenly see the potential for transmission that might be respiratory in nature. Do we have a plan?"

http://www.jhsph.edu/events/2014/ebola-forum/ebola-forum-video-archive

A rather curious quote.

The study referred to seems to be the Zmaap one - http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7520/full/nature13777.html

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: Extract from Dr Osterholm's speech at the John Hopkins symposium

Very interesting. One may want to note that one of the most worrying symptoms noted for the Spanish nurse Teresa Romero is damage to her lungs, which is so bad that her recovery was still in balance as of yesterday. The doctors said that her lungs were so damaged because she is a smoker.

While I will not dismiss that any lung pathology will be made worse by smoking, the above Osterholm's statement regarding the Guinea ebola strain, should perhaps be brought to the attention of doctors treating all patients included in the West African outbreak, so they can take more proactive measures earlier in the illness.

 

[Vibrant62]

Re: Extract from Dr Osterholm's speech at the John Hopkins symposium

In the rush to contain the disease, I am not aware that there has been much in the way of post mortem activity, nor reporting.

This is unfortunate.

It may have been suspended to quell rumours and fears of 'organ harvesting' that were flying around early on in the outbreak - however, autopsy findings are a critical part of the puzzle for us to understand disease progression in humans for this outbreak so I hope there is some data coming soon.