HEALTH MERS CASES EXPLODE IN SAUDI ARABIA

[Doomer Doug]

The following link at zerohedge gives more details.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-...e-mers-deaths-one-third-infected-patients-die

I have been waiting for this to happen.

We are now facing THREE Global Pandemic threats.

The first is MERS. MERS has now spread from the Mideast to Europe and the USA.

The second is Ebola. Ebola has now spread to several countries in Africa. It is also reported to be in Italy, depending on the truth of several unconfirmed reports.

The third is the Chinese "Bird Flu." Again, it is hard to get accurate info due to the ongoing information censorship from Chinese health authorities. We will know when 100,000 people die in Hong Kong or something like that.

At any rate, the new story from Saudi Arabia indicates MERS is ramping up.

 

[Melodi]

I gather they are now testing other animals (quietly) for MERS because it is very likely that this may be affecting more than camels, as I said in another post even if it did start off in Camels, North Americans should not make too many jokes because lots of people in North and even more in South America have "Camels" we just call them Llamas and Alpacas. They are all cousins and can interbreed with each other and so likely can catch the same diseases, they are frequently used in the Western US as companions for sheep because they will take on coyotes and other predators but other wise just grave with the herd (not to mention also having useful fiber).

Once it gets a vector, if it starts going person to person (which I suspect it is in some cases) things can get out of control pretty quickly, and if it does turn out to able to affect dogs, cats, rats, pigs, cows, horses or any other domestic animal (or pest like rats and mice) things could travel even more quickly.

 

[AzProtector]

Alpaca ranch 3 miles away.

I wish it would rip through the ME.

 

[Heretic]

I gather they are now testing other animals (quietly) for MERS because it is very likely that this may be affecting more than camels, as I said in another post even if it did start off in Camels, North Americans should not make too many jokes because lots of people in North and even more in South America have "Camels" we just call them Llamas and Alpacas. They are all cousins and can interbreed with each other and so likely can catch the same diseases, they are frequently used in the Western US as companions for sheep because they will take on coyotes and other predators but other wise just grave with the herd (not to mention also having useful fiber).

Once it gets a vector, if it starts going person to person (which I suspect it is in some cases) things can get out of control pretty quickly, and if it does turn out to able to affect dogs, cats, rats, pigs, cows, horses or any other domestic animal (or pest like rats and mice) things could travel even more quickly.

I had a chance to have lunch yesterday (June 2) with some epidemiologists and they told me the current thought is MERS originates in Egyptian Tomb Bats. Camels (as opposed to their close cousins) have some very odd blood characteristic.

The "Tomb Bat" lives in many places besides tombs.

As to the whole Ebola is gonna kill us all...still not too likely. And they assured me that If Ebola was in Europe, the WHO would be having a fit.

Now bird flu, yea that one is real scary because it gets in migratory birds and spreads world wide.

Now if the Brits can only perfect that universal flu vaccine they are working on....

Terry

 

[Doomer Doug]

I think relying on either the defective public health systems in Africa, or the PC WHO to know the truth of MERS, much less tell us, is a wee bit optimistic. <G>

If you study the science of global pandemics, you realize there is one precise point, easily seen in hindsight, where "IT" happens. The disease is in control up to that point. After that point, for whatever reason, it just spirals completely out of control.
I do not think that "point" has been reached for any of the three diseases.

On the other hand, we won't really know until there are several hundred thousand bodies piled up somewhere.

 

[Heretic]

I think relying on either the defective public health systems in Africa, or the PC WHO to know the truth of MERS, much less tell us, is a wee bit optimistic. <G>

If you study the science of global pandemics, you realize there is one precise point, easily seen in hindsight, where "IT" happens. The disease is in control up to that point. After that point, for whatever reason, it just spirals completely out of control.
I do not think that "point" has been reached for any of the three diseases.

On the other hand, we won't really know until there are several hundred thousand bodies piled up somewhere.

The WHO keeps a reasonably close eye on what is really going on.
Unlike most international agencies the WHO doe a good job and doesn't get tied up in local/national politics.
Yes governments try to hide what is happening and if (when) we have a major 'new' disease outbreak, the locals will try to hide it.

It is hard to hide several thousand, much less hundred thousand deaths.
People talk and other people listen.

Ebola is primarily a problem because of the extreme poverty in Africa.

MERS might become a biggie, but while camels have been found with MERS antigens, it doesn't look to spread through camel populations.

Bird flu is the real spooky one. We will all be exposed to that one.

Terry

 

[Warthog]

If the CDC and EPA are so worried about our health, why isn't there a ban on all incoming flights from Saudi??? What's the mortality rate on MERS? I think it's 78%

 

[Heretic]

If the CDC and EPA are so worried about our health, why isn't there a ban on all incoming flights from Saudi???

<Satire on>
That would be discriminatory.
You CAN'T discriminate against people of the peaceful religion.
<Satire off>

At them moment the chances of catching MERS (Ebola or the bird flu) are worse then winning a big lottery.

I wonder how much of this new outbreak is better recognition of what may have been happening for a long time.
Sadly in many parts of the world, poor people get sick and die without ever seeing a doctor.

Oh wait, I just described our new healthcare system.
Sorry about that.....

Terry

 

[blueridge]

It would seem that Nature has indeed "found a way" to shake off some of the critters that infest the Big Petri Dish!



"...If the CDC and EPA are so worried about our health..."

Just a guess - but Warthog's question above ^^^^ is self-answering!

i.e. they are NOT worried or concerned in the least...

 

[Be Well]

The WHO keeps a reasonably close eye on what is really going on.
Unlike most international agencies the WHO doe a good job and doesn't get tied up in local/national politics.

Actually this is the opposite of fact. I followed flu news obsessively on the best flu forum for years, since Dec. 2006. Read everything. WHO is part of the UN, let that sink in. The previous director died mysteriously on the podium right when H5N1 was starting to make itself known. The next director is a Chinese Communist named Margaret Chan, who terribly botched up SARS and as a result that spread to Canada. The Chinese are completely non-transparent about whatever flu/health stuff goes on there. The WHO is biased and politicized and therefore not trustworthy, just as every other UN agency.

And people trust it as though it was factual and well meaning. They lied about the swine flu in 2009 and made very bad decisions, and the CDC followed suit with lies about how many died, and the lies about how many die every year from regular flu. I could go on and on, but I know my stuff about this topic. The WHO and the CDC admit they base their decisions on "social and economic" outcomes, not "how many people may die or not die".