• Question: what's world's most dangerous disease?

    Asked by ellascientist to clairemarieroberts, Faye, Martin, Mus, Pete on 23 Apr 2012. This question was also asked by prosyndicate, kieranscottiee.
    • Photo: Pete Etchells

      Pete Etchells answered on 23 Apr 2012:

      I guess the answer to this question depends on what you mean by dangerous. Ebola is a pretty scary and dangerous disease, and can kill you very quickly and easily. But because it’s so fast, it’s known as a ‘self-limiting’ disease, because it doesn’t give itself the chance to spread very quickly. Thankfully then, it’s not a widespread disease.

      On the other hand, the biggest cause of death worldwise is cardiovascular disease. Things like coronary heart disease won’t necessarily kill you, but you’re much more likely to get it than something rare like ebola. Thankfully, the most effective way to reduce your chances of getting heart disease is to eat healthily, take lots of exercise, and avoid smoking – all things that we should all be doing anyway, especially with the Olympics coming up!

    • Photo: clairemarieroberts

      clairemarieroberts answered on 23 Apr 2012:

      Although this is not strictly my specialism, I am led to believe that the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the most dangerous disease in the world. It leads to a condition call ‘Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome’ (AIDS), which knocks out a human’s immune system leading ultimately to death. There is no known cure for this.

      However, I also know that the Ebola virus is extremely dangerous with a fatality rate of between 50-89 percent. Apparently, Ebola will kill a person within a week to two weeks usually from multiple organ failure.

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