The news of the Ebola outbreak continues to be very grim:
CNN: Death toll passes 1,550 as Ebola outbreak accelerates, officials say
The Ebola outbreak “continues to accelerate” in West Africa and has killed 1,552 people so far, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The total number of cases stands at 3,069, with 40% occurring in the past three weeks. “However, most cases are concentrated in only a few localities,” the WHO said. The outbreak, the deadliest ever, has been centered in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a handful of cases in Nigeria. The overall fatality rate is 52%, the WHO said, ranging from 42% in Sierra Leone to 66% in Guinea. (emphasis added)
Bloomberg: Ebola Cases May Surpass 20,000, WHO Says in Updated Plan
More than 20,000 people may be infected with the Ebola virus before the outbreak in West Africa is controlled and curbing the epidemic will cost at least $490 million, according to a World Health Organization plan.
The reported numbers are probably low. India is taking aggressive measures to check incoming passengers who have been in Africa. Nigeria appears to be doing a good job of containment. For the people in the three countries presently afflicted there seems to be little we can do but pray.
[url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/first-human-trials-ebola-vaccine-start-next-week-n190716]GlaxoSmithKline[/url] will begin human trials of a vaccine next week, in conjunction with the NIH.
[url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/?s=Ebola]Prayers[/url], new and old.
An ebola case arrives in [url=http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ebola-cases-past-week-25172474]Dakar, Senegal[/url].
My heart is devastated to read the latest news in Nigeria and the real risk of further spread in Port Harcourt (the nation’s main oil hub) – all because of one single individual – an incredibly foolish, perhaps even criminally negligent doctor. (I saw a story that he may be sanctioned after his death as a warning to other doctors…)
The latest WHO report on the situation in Port Harcourt and how this doctor has potentially infected many others (hundreds are under surveillance) is grim and shocking reading.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/3-september-2014/en/
But I find it to contain an incredible spiritual metaphor. One lone man (Patrick Sawyer) brought “death” – Ebola – to Nigeria. Another lone man – this crazy doctor who disregarded the illness – has potentially brought death to dozens of others. It illustrates to a small extent the truth of Romans of how one man, Adam, brought sin and death into the world and all of us have been infected. It also causes me to think more generally of the power of one life for good or evil. Are we aware of how our own lives potentially spread evil or the light of Christ? One individual can have a tremendous impact in the world. We don’t often see it as clearly as this sad situation with Ebola in Nigeria.
It is horrifying to read that a physician could have been the source of perhaps many deaths in his clientele and his family and community from negligence. Many people apparently don’t really believe in Ebola and are not following recommendations, but a doctor should have known better.
A hundred and fifty years ago, people knew what to do in these situations. Quarantine of ships, ports, whole areas was the only answer to Yellow Fever and Cholera. Quarantine was of the whole affected place, healthy and sick, not just of the diagnosed patients.
The years of freedom from so many diseases has made us complacent about what we really need to do to prevent the spread of this terrible disease; at the same time as we have become used to unrestricted and frequent travel. With an incubation period of up to 21 days, quarantine is the only answer for anyone travelling to infected areas or within them. What’s more with the infection of staff trained in infectious disease precautions, the infection is clearly much more virulent and possibly air borne in water droplets than is being recognised. Quarantine gives time for the disease to be controlled, resources to be targetted without being overwhelmed, and for research to deal with the infection to be carried out – and in 150 years we have become so much better at finding cures and treatments in relatively short periods.
But the planes are still flying, the visits are still going on and the trade and personal travel is continuing unrestricted, and it looks like the whole world is going to pay a terrible price, for our unwillingness to face up to what needs to be done and the way we are putting other lives and our own in terrible danger.