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A comment on Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major city. Parent comment

Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by dhh2106 on Sunday January 20, 2019 @10:11AM (#18953360)
I thought all diseases spread exponentially, with the rate being determined by how contagious on one side and how deadly on the other?
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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by lb1lf on Sunday January 20, 2019 @10:32AM (#18953451)
...plus the -hm- incubation period?

That is - for how long you can transmit the disease without showing symptoms.

The nightmare, of course, being a highly contagious, very deadly disease which let its victims infect others for weeks or months before falling ill themselves.

I recall having read somewhere that a 'good' thing about ebola is that it mostly gets its victims before they've had a chance to travel very far, thus limiting its spread.

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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by toufiqbarhamov on Sunday January 20, 2019 @01:22PM (#18954574)
The nightmare, of course, being a highly contagious, very deadly disease which let its victims infect others for weeks or months before falling ill themselves.

That’s a very good description of Variola Major, and one reason (along with lethality and disfiguring effects) that it was so terrifying.

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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by ams6110 on Sunday January 20, 2019 @03:01PM (#18955246)
HIV/AIDS also.
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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by thaumasiotes on Sunday January 20, 2019 @04:07PM (#18955603)
HIV isn't very contagious. That is why dying of AIDS was a strong indicator that you were gay. If it had been able to spread easily, everyone would have had it rather than just a tiny subpopulation.
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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by api on Sunday January 20, 2019 @10:47AM (#18953510)
Yes, what you describe is the classic doomsday disease.
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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by alien_ on Sunday January 20, 2019 @01:48PM (#18954758)
Sounds much like rabies.

The other critical feature is how easy it is passed on to a new victim, the worst scenario is being airborne.

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Re:Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major ... by marcosdumay on Sunday January 20, 2019 @02:12PM (#18954925)
The simplified model is a sigmoid function, if it looks like exponential growth, exponentially dampened, or linear depends on where you are on the curve.
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