« The G7 Put vs. the Greenspan Put | Main | Regulating Traders via Earn-Outs »

Latest Stories

• [Update] Surprise, Surprise: Unknown Virus
• The G7 Put vs. the Greenspan Put
• Relief Rally in Pictures
• Congratulations to Paul Krugman
• Be It Resolved: Shares are Derivatives

October 13, 2008

[Update] Surprise, Surprise: Unknown Virus

In an update to my "surprise, surprise" file, reader Greg Church caught this release from the WHO:

New virus from Arenaviridae family in South Africa and Zambia - Update

13 October 2008 -- The results of tests conducted at the Special Pathogens Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service in Johannesburg, and at the Special Pathogens and Infectious Disease Pathology branches of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA, provide preliminary evidence that the causative agent of the disease which has resulted in the recent deaths of 3 people from Zambia and South Africa, is a virus from the Arenaviridae family.

Analysis continues at the NICD and CDC in order to characterize this virus more fully. CDC and NICD are technical partners in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).

Meanwhile, a new case has been confirmed by PCR in South Africa. A nurse who had close contact with an earlier case has become ill, and has been admitted to hospital. Contacts have been identified and are being followed-up.

Now, to keep things in context, while this virus is demonstrating considerably lethality, such arenavirus are, to my knowledge, almost always transmitted via contact, usually food contamination involving rodents.

More here.

Sphere It   |   Digg it   |   Bookmark it   |   Stumble it   |   Facebook it