PH>"The Hot Zone" scared the living jeebers out of me! I live only an hour
PH>away from Reston, VA and only about 20 minutes "as the virus flies,"
I bet! Especially as the Reston strain did actually "jump species" into
human primate handlers. Some actually showed a positive titre for that
strain of Ebola but it didn't probe lethal in the humans like it did in
the monkeys.
Reading Hot Zone definitely reinforced my opinion that I do not want to
raise mammals, especially primates. Once I thought I might want to raise
marmosets, but this definitely caused me to swing over to a big NOT.
PH>I'm a retired firefighter/paramedic and still like to keep up with
My dad's a retired fire dept captain. He's 78. Did 35 yrs on the dept.
One of my first remembered games/toys was "first aid"/nurse with a 1960
ARC first aid manual and dolls, pets, anyone sitting still. Eventually I
did go to nursing school and become a nurse and now a bird
mommy/breeder.
PH>medical stuff. There is a newer book out titled "The Coming Plaque"
PH>that addresses all of the emerging superbugs and viruses, and THAT one
PH>scared me even more. I don't recall any avian viruses mentioned, though.
Oooh, I will look for it...
PH>I live about an hour away from the Jaax's and I was thinking that I
PH>would probably buy a bird from them when it comes time to buy, since
PH>they're vets and disease-savvy, and from what I read in "Zone," I
PH>think they're super-ethical. One of their birds, Herky, was mentioned
PH>in the book.
Was that the Amazon?
PH>In "The Coming Plaque" the author wrote that whie Ebola Reston is
PH>deadly to monkeys and does seem to spread via air, it is now considered
PH>to be a mutated virus harmless to humans. I dunno about that, but none
Except that several people did test positive to it. But you're right,
they didn't suffer any definitive harm. Some got sick, but it was never
determined if this was coincidental or if this was from E. Reston.
PH>of the animal caretakers exposed to the virus died, so maybe there is
PH>something to that...but I don'tl want to be around it to find out!
Me either...
You also have to understand the routes taken in animal shipments to
figure out what happened in Reston. None of those monkeys were African
if I remember. I think they were Filipino shellfish eating monkeys or
something. But everything seems to end up in Singapore. Even if it's not
supposed to get out of Africa in the first place like Togo and
Cameroon African Grays and such.
In this case monkeys from all over were probably housed together and
passed on all sorts of cooties. The African animals probably had
resistance to it or were carriers, unaffected. Another thing I didn't
think they hit on hard enough was that the CH&A unit was not working
properly which both meant that it was not filtering the air to any
degree, and they probably didn't use HEPA's anyway, and also without
proper cooling (as I think was the case)/heating or air circulation and
ventilation the animals inevitably stressed out severely and probably
their already compromised immune systems nose-dived to the point where
they contracted the virus  and succumbed to it.
Animals are stronger and more resistant than we think and are harder to
stress out than we would think. Basically, one way a bird is stressed
out enough is to be in "breeding mode".  Hormonal changes contribute.
Severe weather conditions may contribute,which would be one of the cases
pertinent to the Reston situation.
Well. I guess it's time to slink on off my soapbox...
Barbara
PH>... Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is cheaper.
Love it. Definitely! It's true. And probably more effective!
 * SLMR 2.1a * Washington D.C.  America's work-free drug place.
--- GEcho 1.00
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