Word: pathogenicity
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...which killed 245 in the Zairian town of Kikwit last year, was transmitted to humans from chimpanzees or other forest creatures. Thanks to the latest outbreak, that theory now looks pretty solid. But where is the virus coming from? Chimps seem to be as susceptible as people to the pathogen, so it's unlikely that they can harbor it for long periods of time...
...best guess is that Ebola resides in a small, forest-dwelling animal, possibly a rodent. Insects such as mosquitoes, abundant in the rainy season, could transfer the blood-borne pathogen to chimps--or to humans. But, cautions Heymann, that's no more than speculation. "We're still in the dark," he says. Meanwhile, officials in Gabon are playing it safe. Last week they warned villagers not to touch dead animals found in the forest or kill any that are "behaving strangely." Until researchers know what they're dealing with, that's probably prudent. As the villagers of Mayibout now know...
...vaccines. The first, pioneered by Salk, is made from viruses that have been inactivated or "killed." It protects those who are vaccinated but does not stop them from harboring live viruses in their intestines. Should they encounter polio "in the wild," they could become silent carriers and pass the pathogen on to others who have not been inoculated. If polio were to break out--as it did in the U.S. in the '50s, and as it has right now in parts of India--the Salk vaccine would not protect the population at large...
...freckle, the tiny deer tick has sown panic from Montauk to Minneapolis as a carrier of Lyme disease -- an illness that has struck more than 71,000 Americans and left hundreds permanently disabled. Now the minuscule pest is causing even greater alarm. Scientists say deer ticks harbor yet another pathogen, which, unlike the one responsible for Lyme disease, can-in rare cases-actually kill a person in a matter of days...
...virulence of a case depends on the dose of the pathogen," Freeman said...