There is one bit of good news too, which I noticed here:
A WHO press briefing also heard that scientists had identified an antiviral drug, obeldesivir, which may be able to prevent contacts of Bundibugyo cases developing the disease, and were working to establish trials in the affected areas.
Obeldesivir is an ester of remdesivir (converted into the nucleoside prodrug “remdesivir” by esterases once taken orally). Remdesivir is an old drug which was first approved for Hepatitis C, then for COVID-19, so there might be supplies.
If given within 24 hours of infection through mucosal membranes (e.g. mouth, nose, eyes), it protects one species of macaques against Ebola well enough to have 100% survival during 21 days (but another species only gets 80% survival).
It is predicted to protect humans, since the mechanism does not depend on the host species, but jams the viral RNA polymerase. But it works only if infection has just started, and there is very little viral RNA polymerase around in the body.
I think it will mostly find use among medical personnel, who are likely to learn fast if they have been exposed. With the wider population, it probably won’t help as much - when detection comes late, the amount of virus in the body is too great to counter, so the drug can only disable a fraction of it. It likely can’t help if symptoms are already serious, and perhaps even if any symptoms are already present. Effective use is therefore likely to depend on effective testing and tracing.
Thanks elon, trump, maga idiots
How long we have until this shit spreads across the USA?
No worries, all is under control
It’s all Aladeen
It not spread. No worry.
At this point in history … we should just just accelerate the spread … because if we aren’t going to be killed by Ebola … we’re going to get killed by capitalism … or global warming (caused by capitalism)
Hey look an accelerationist. And … He thinks his dumbass opinion is worth sharing… What a maroon
Im the long term we’ll all die, but I don’t see any reason to speed it up
Let global warming cook me slowly until I’m a nice golden brown.
Reminds me of a joke I’ve heard a dozen times at Indigenous conferences from an MC trying to entertain the crowd.
“When the Creator created man, he put together all the ingredients like a loaf of bread and then had to set them in an oven to finish them. On his first batch, he put in the uncooked loaves and took them out without knowing the cooking time. The loaves were undercooked and still looked white … so that’s how he ended up with White people. He made another batch and this time, he left them in longer and when they came out, they were very dark and almost burnt … and that is how he ended up with Black people. On his third batch, he now knew what to do and he put his loaves in and knew the exact time to bring them out and they came out a nice rich golden brown colour … they were perfect … and that is how he created Indigenous people”
