Sometimes during the process of copying the RNA or DNA of the virus, small errors (substitutions in nucleotide base pairs) occur in the copy. These errors are replicated into subsequent copies. If the change isn't fatal to the virus and causes it to stop replicating, then the virus has resulted in a mutation. If that mutation results in a changed protein that enables the virus to survive, infect or replicate better the virus will become more infectious.
With all do respect, no one should be minimizing the danger of this virus to the public. People have a right to know the dangers that are ahead of them. I am confident the USA will bring this under control, but, a great effort has to be given to this. The Ebola virus is probably the most dangerous problem the world has right now. The danger is immediate.
The longer a virus exists the more of an 'opportunity' it has to mutate.
October 4, 2014
The Ebola virus (click here) could become airborne if the epidemic is not brought under control quickly enough, the chief of the United Nations Ebola mission warned yesterday.
Anthony Banbury, the UN secretary-general's special representative, said aid workers were racing against time to bring the epidemic under control in case the virus mutated and became even harder to deal with.
"The longer it moves around in human hosts in the virulent melting pot that is West Africa, the more chances increase that it could mutate," he said. "It is a nightmare scenario [that it could become airborne], and unlikely, but it can't be ruled out."
He admitted that the international community had been "a bit late" to respond to the epidemic, but that it was "not too late". Banbury, who has worked with the UN since 1988, said that the epidemic was the worst disaster he had witnessed....
With all do respect, no one should be minimizing the danger of this virus to the public. People have a right to know the dangers that are ahead of them. I am confident the USA will bring this under control, but, a great effort has to be given to this. The Ebola virus is probably the most dangerous problem the world has right now. The danger is immediate.
The longer a virus exists the more of an 'opportunity' it has to mutate.
October 4, 2014
The Ebola virus (click here) could become airborne if the epidemic is not brought under control quickly enough, the chief of the United Nations Ebola mission warned yesterday.
Anthony Banbury, the UN secretary-general's special representative, said aid workers were racing against time to bring the epidemic under control in case the virus mutated and became even harder to deal with.
"The longer it moves around in human hosts in the virulent melting pot that is West Africa, the more chances increase that it could mutate," he said. "It is a nightmare scenario [that it could become airborne], and unlikely, but it can't be ruled out."
He admitted that the international community had been "a bit late" to respond to the epidemic, but that it was "not too late". Banbury, who has worked with the UN since 1988, said that the epidemic was the worst disaster he had witnessed....
