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uppityperson

(116,022 posts)

27. Too many people confuse the fiction with fact. I have no problem denigrating pop fiction as a sourc

Sun Oct 5, 2014, 05:53 PM

Oct 2014

source for honest information.

The "gruesome details" are fictionalizedly overdone to sell the book. But too many believe you die from "bleeding from every orifice" after your "organs liquify".

As a person wrote on another forum

I'm not an "expert" like Preston, I only lecture on viral hemorrhagic fever viruses in grad school courses, and I have done some work on drug discovery on Ebola, but from what I understand much of what he described as the symptomology of filovirus infection was wrong. There is no 'profuse bleeding from all orifices", the organs do not liquefy, etc. In fact, one of the strangest things about the disease is there is relatively little to observe in a post mortem. There may some bleeding from mucous membranes, noticeable internal bleeding in the intestinal tract, and subdermal bleeding, but it is not gross blood loss that kills patients, it is massive inflammation due to an out of control response by one part of the immune system, and this causes shock and drop in blood pressure. The body kills itself.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2cscg8/i_am_richard_preston_author_of_the_hot_zone_and/

I prefer to source accurate information from scientific papers, not mass market ficitionalized "based on" books. If you have an issue with these sort of sources, that is up to you.

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Your organs do NOT liquify, contrary to popular literature. Why do you get sick, die? Details here.. [View all] uppityperson Oct 2014 OP

Gruesome details, but important information MineralMan Oct 2014 #1

Thank you, I edited to add a bit more. I have more problems with the laypersons pop literature uppityperson Oct 2014 #3

You know, I have problems with denigration of sources because one feels like it. "The Hot WinkyDink Oct 2014 #26

Too many people confuse the fiction with fact. I have no problem denigrating pop fiction as a sourc uppityperson Oct 2014 #27

DIC is an ugly way to die. I've seen one case, for sure, decades ago in kestrel91316 Oct 2014 #2

I have taken care of patients with DIC and they weren't the omg bleeding out of every...thing, just uppityperson Oct 2014 #4

That poor dog had bloody diarrhea and was vomiting blood and had ecchmotic hemorrhages on his skin, kestrel91316 Oct 2014 #23

we had a dic when I was in clinicals magical thyme Oct 2014 #20

My wife is a veterinary technician. They say DIC is short for.. KinMd Oct 2014 #28

Nice work. Baitball Blogger Oct 2014 #5

You are welcome. I like to learn about things and trying to pass on what I found to help uppityperson Oct 2014 #29

Regardless of the terminology, it is still an ugly way to die. truedelphi Oct 2014 #6

My child was assigned The Hot Zone in middle school, had to petition to read Moby Dick instead uppityperson Oct 2014 #8

Yikes. Sorry to hear that Moby Dick is a book a student has to petition to read. n/t truedelphi Oct 2014 #19

The Hot Zone for middleschoolers? Marrah_G Oct 2014 #33

He started reading and after the first chapter told me he wasn't going to read more as it was uppityperson Oct 2014 #34

I would never have given that book to my kids Marrah_G Oct 2014 #35

Very informative post. K&R Louisiana1976 Oct 2014 #7

K & R Thespian2 Oct 2014 #9

Thank you for this important information. LawDeeDah Oct 2014 #10

Septic shock. Occurs in end stage disease.... Avalux Oct 2014 #11

Indeed, that was in one of the articles, that what happens happens with other diseases, issues uppityperson Oct 2014 #25

Aha, thank you! So it's kind of like a really bad MS attack, in a way. Except for the clots. But LiberalLoner Oct 2014 #12

Thanks for the scientific explanation. freshwest Oct 2014 #13

Yikes. That's even scarier than just bleeding out your eyes. SunSeeker Oct 2014 #14

Weird how medical articles Needa Moment Oct 2014 #31

So then are immunocompromised people less likely to die from ebola? n/t Duer 157099 Oct 2014 #15

Huh, let me think. They still have the clotting, tissue death problem. Quick research shows no. uppityperson Oct 2014 #16

Very interesting paper, thanks Duer 157099 Oct 2014 #17

Positive and negative, but indeed no, immunocompromised are a high risk group, reading more uppityperson Oct 2014 #18

But if it takes longer for immunocompromised people to die from Ebola... Duer 157099 Oct 2014 #32

Very good info. Sissyk Oct 2014 #21

I feel so much better now. nt B2G Oct 2014 #22

Thank you for the information Stargazer09 Oct 2014 #24

Thanks for the clear information, uppityperson. n/t pnwmom Oct 2014 #30

Thank you for posting this description. I find the end-stage symptoms not quite so scary now. woodsprite Oct 2014 #36

My condolences on your mom. We never want to lose a loved one, but having them be more comfortable uppityperson Oct 2014 #39

Definition of "DIC": LiberalElite Oct 2014 #37

Thank you, that is a clear and concise definition/description. uppityperson Oct 2014 #38

I read the OP LiberalElite Oct 2014 #40

I appreciate it. I get used to reading techno-jargon stuff, appreciate when people post readable uppityperson Oct 2014 #42

pretty horrifying process barbtries Oct 2014 #41