Ebola's still raging

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/17/ebolas-still-raging.html

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This outbreak has been getting steadily worse while the media attention has been elsewhere. I’ve been trying to follow news about it every so often, and it’s really concerning how little is known about it.

Because of the multi-sided civil conflict that’s ongoing in the region, the figures we have about confirmed cases are just those that have been detected, in areas where medics can operate without having their health centres attacked. The danger is cases that slip past the cordon, into previously unaffected areas. These could cause new centres of the outbreak before the health response catches up. And if it reaches a major urban area, then things can get a lot worse, very quickly.

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“infections disease”
“sn international emergency”
“stopped do to the”

Dang, even the article about the thing is hemorrhaging. Ebola’s horrific.

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Of all the video games life could resemble, I would rather it not be this one.

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I briefly joked about having this a couple days ago when I was in the ER for 7 hours with strange symptoms and really high fever. There was talk of getting a spinal tap even after a CT scan could not find anything.

All I can say is I’m glad right now all I have is a strange bacterial pneumonia shredding my body instead of this.
Well if it’s the other thing they were talking about, I could be dead by the end of the week but I doubt that will happen.

I feel lucky that what I have is all I have and I don’t have this. Ebola is an incredibly painful way to die and you and your body can infect your loved ones after you’re dead if youre not cremated. I hope someone can help these people I wish we could eradicate this organism from the face of the Earth

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By its nature, ebola Is unlikely to ever develop into a widespread pandemic. It kills too fast and is not that easily transmitted. But as far as local disaster, it more than qualifies, and on it’s home turf, the funerary practices tend to encourage spread. There are multitudinous tropical hemorrhagic diseases, including some in this hemisphere. If not for ongoing war and mistrust of government (not unwarranted, mind you) I think it would be relatively easily controlled. Of course, there is ongoing civil war, medics and hospitals are often targeted, civilians are displaced and the government is not terribly trustworthy. On the upside, there is an experimental vaccine being used in the area that seems to be pretty effective. Upshot is this is more to do with human inhumanity than evil microbes.

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Which means the U.S. government won’t do anything to help. Because you know exactly what’s passing through Trump’s mind when (if) he hears about this situation: “Oh, those brown people way over there–who, incidentally, aren’t making me wealthier–are dying horribly in their own country? Great, keep up the tremendous work, Ebola.”

I… really want a human president again.

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That is pretty much accurate and really distressing. We literally cannot “de-orange” fast enough.

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