h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's a disease for you. Chain letters. H2G2 has been infected. Found one at http://www.h2g2.com/u43161 . Made ME feel like puking.

Working on a cure for that particular ailment as you are reading this...

I think you will find that TPTB have taken care of the disease in question...
And they pledge to continue to fight until they find a cure for this particular ailment.

Thanks for pointing it out!!

My own personal favorite in the realm of diseases is Ebola. Ebola Zaire is the deadliest disease known to man, killing 9 out of 10 people who contract it. It was thought to either have started in bats or elephants and moved to humans in east Africa in the mid-70s. Very creepy stuff. If you want to know more, just ask.

I'm asking....

Ok, just remember you asked for it!

Ebola is in the same family of diseases as Marburg, affectionately known as long rabies because of the shape of the virus. Its initial symptoms closely resemble that of the common influenza, although it is only transmittable through contact between bodily fluids unlike the flu. In its advanced stages, the ebola virus' protein shell is large enough to tear the vessel walls in the blood vessels, causing convulsions, liquidification of the internal organs, hemophilia and finally a bleed-out where the vessels simply burst. Ebola Zaire is the deadliest version of this disease, killing 9 out of every 10 victims. Right behind it is Ebola Sudan, which only kills 7 out of 10 and was discovered in the later 1970s. The third variation is called Ebola Reston, after Reston, Virginia. This is the only type of ebola to actually have been seen in the United States of America. It was discovered in Reston, less than 50 miles outside of Washington DC in the mid-80s. A small monkey house noticed that several of their monkeys had bled out and called the CDC. When it was identified as ebola, the monkey house was quaranteed and the CDC rushed folks to investigate. Hundreds of monkeys died of Ebola Reston, but the ironic thing is that it proved to cause nothing more serious than flu symptoms in humans.

There ya go. There's a book by Richard Preston called The Hot Zone that tells a little more about ebola and marburg. Its what originally got me interested in the disease. I highly recommended it.

WOW!! I'll add this soon! Thanks so much!

My pleasure!

Update complete!

Ebola will cause you to bleed from every orifice, the surface of your tongue will peel off, when you die you will eventually liquify completely, and lots more. Just ask for details.

Also watch the movie "Outbreak", which shows a scenario in which a Haemorrhagic Fever appears in the US.

My advice: If you hear of an Ebola outbreak anywhere near you: RUN!

I would tend to agree with the RUN advice. So far, only the non-fatal (to humans at least) form of Ebola has proven to be airbourne. A good sprint should put you in better position.