Why the Ebola outbreak in Africa should concern us all: [View all]

[hedgehog]

In the past, it was possible to swoop down and end Ebola outbreaks by breaking the chain of infection. Since the disease apparently spreads only with intimate contact with bodily fluids, this involved isolating anyone who was exposed and taking special precautions to protect anyone in contact with patients. Each time the virus has jumped species, it has been stamped out among humans.

This time around, families have concealed illness among their loved ones in order to nurse the sick and properly bury the dead. People have been exposed to the virus and then traveled to their home in another location. This means that more and more people across scattered locations are becoming infected.

Viruses mutate. Ebola now kills most of its victims. However, the more humans it infects, the higher the possibility that a mutant version that doesn't kill quickly and/or spreads more easily appears. The form of the virus that does the best job of spreading among humans is the one that will survive and dominate. The more people with Ebola today, the higher the risk that this will happen.

Measles is a disease that jumped species; the original virus causes rinderpest in cattle and other even-toed ungulates. There is concern that small pox began as a pox disease in another species before it jumped to humans, and that that mutation could reoccur. Ebola could add itself to the list at any time.