Effectively Communicating the Uncertainties Surrounding Ebola Virus Transmission

The current Ebola virus outbreak has highlighted the uncertainties surrounding many aspects of Ebola virus virology, including routes of transmission. The scientific community played a leading role during the outbreak—potentially, the largest of its kind—as many of the questions surrounding ebolaviruses have only been interrogated in the laboratory. Scientists provided an invaluable resource for clinicians, public health officials, policy makers, and the lay public in understanding the progress of Ebola virus disease and the continuing outbreak. Not all of the scientific communication, however, was accurate or effective. There were multiple instances of published articles during the height of the outbreak containing potentially misleading scientific language that spurred media overreaction and potentially jeopardized preparedness and policy decisions at critical points. Here, we use articles declaring the potential for airborne transmission of Ebola virus as a case study in the inaccurate reporting of basic science, and we provide recommendations for improving the communication about unknown aspects of disease during public health crises.     

Quinolinate phosphoribosyl transferase is not the oxygen-sensitive site of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide biosynthesis

Quinolinate phosphoribosyl transferase (QPT) activity was not affected when Escherichia coli were treated with hyperbaric oxygen. This result is not in accord with a previous report (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 91:982-990; 1979) in which the enzyme was shown to be rapidly inactivated in E. Coli exposed to 4.2 atmospheres of oxygen. Our data rule out QPT as a site of oxygen toxicity and suggest other mechanisms for the inhibitory effects of the hyperbaric oxygen on pyridine nucleotide biosynthesis.     

A Selective Medium for the Enumeration of Microbacterium thermosphactum in Meat and Meat Products

S ummary . A selective medium for the isolation and enumeration of Microbacterium thermosphactum is described and data is presented on its use in assessing the composition of the flora of meat and meat products.     

The role of rock weathering in the phosphorus budget of terrestrial watersheds

Residual soils (saprolites) developed on crystalline rocks appear to form by an essentially isovolumetric process (i.e. without dilation or compaction). Isovolumetric geochemical analysis of a suite of saprolite samples developed on a common parent rock can be used to estimate the relative rates of long-term losses of P and Si during weathering. Using the export of dissolved Si in rivers as a weathering index, one can then estimate the rate of P release due to chemical weathering by means of the P-Si loss ratio in saprolite. For three basins where data are available (Liberty Hill, SC; Amazon River, Brazil: Rio Negro, Brazil) estimated P weathering release rates are 163, 457, and 242 moles P km^–2 yr^–1 respectively. These compare to precipitation inputs of 684, 700 and 630 moles P km^–2 yr^–1 and total river exports of 256, 4490 and 820 moles P km^–2 yr^–1, respectively. The Rio Negro shows a near perfect balance between the input of P via precipitation and chemical weathering and the riverine output of dissolved and suspended P. This system, however, raised the unsolved problem of the source that supports the atmospheric P input.     

Role of respiratory viruses in childhood mortality.

Respiratory viruses have been identified at necropsy in the lungs of 13 out of 24 children who died with observed acute respiratory illness. The histological appearances of the lungs supported the association between virus and death in each of these 13 children and suggested an unidentified virus aetiology in a further five cases. Histological appearances compatible with bacterial infection were found in the lungs of only two of the 24 children. Similar virus and histological findings have been reported in about one-third of victims of the sudden infant death syndrome (cot deaths), indicating a rapid unobserved respiratory virus infection as the most likely mode of death in this group. Evidence that respiratory viruses may be involved in a larger proportion of sudden unexpected deaths, perhaps as antigens in a hypersensitivity reaction, is discussed. Respiratory viruses seem the major identifiable agents contributing to the maintenance of the postneonatal mortality rate since acute respiratory illness and the sudden infant death syndrome together account for about two-thirds of deaths at this age.