
Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is moving toward a major city - pseudolus
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/18/18188199/drc-ebola-outbreak
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gdubs
I’m not looking to incite a political flame war, but genuinely interested in
how the current US government shutdown affects the response to this. The CDC
is funded through 2019, but are there “non-essential” services whose absence
will be detrimental towards combating a potential crisis like Ebola? Airport
screeners? FDA? Research programs?

~~~
jMyles
It's also worth considering whether the absence of these officials is a net
positive or negative in terms of the overall response. Their response last
time was _abysmal_. Be reminded, for example, that _19 days_ after Thomas Eric
Duncan was treated without proper gear, the CDC still had a cheesy "under
construction"-esque web page on the topic that said, "PPE Recommendations are
forthcoming".

Hospitals were waiting instead of making their own preparations.

And they told Amber Vinson it was OK to fly with a slight fever, only later to
vilify her in the press for "breaking protocol."

What an absolute shitshow.

~~~
sdenton4
On the other hand, Nigeria had an amazing response.

"In both cities, all the ingredients for an explosion of new cases were in
place. That explosion never happened, thanks to the country’s strong
leadership and effective coordination of an immediate and aggressive response.
As in Senegal, an emergency operations centre was established, supported by
the WHO country office. Also like Senegal, Nigeria had a first-rate virology
laboratory, affiliated with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, that was
staffed and equipped to promptly diagnose a case of Ebola virus disease.

"The government generously allocated funds and dispersed them quickly.
Isolation facilities were built in both cities, as were designated Ebola
treatment facilities. House-to-house information campaigns and messages on
local radio stations, in local dialects, were used to ease public fears.
Infrastructures and cutting-edge technologies in place for polio eradication,
were repurposed to support the Ebola response, putting GPS systems to work for
real-time contact tracing and daily mapping of transmission chains. Contact
tracing reached 100% in Lagos and 99.8% in Port Harcourt.

"In what WHO described as a “spectacular success story”, the country held the
number of cases to 19, with 7 deaths. World-class epidemiological detective
work eventually linked all cases back to either direct or indirect contact
with the air traveller from Liberia. WHO declared Nigeria free of Ebola virus
transmission on 20 October."

[https://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/one-year-
report/nigeri...](https://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/one-year-
report/nigeria/en/)

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lettergram
I’m curious if the more people who catch Ebola increase the risk it becomes
spreadable by an airborn vector. I assume that’s the case, but does anyone
know?

~~~
learc83
Ebola would have to change a good bit to become airborne. If that were to
happen, it would be a very different disease and there is no reason to assume
it continue to be nearly as deadly.

~~~
vecter
Why would becoming airborne make it less deadly?

~~~
rdlecler1
Genetic/phenotypic trade offs.

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DanBC
Here's another more detailed article that gives some history and context:
[https://www.irinnews.org/special-report/2019/01/16/ebola-
cri...](https://www.irinnews.org/special-report/2019/01/16/ebola-crisis-
prevention-central-africa-congo-uganda)

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forkLding
Vice had made several videos of the Ebola outbreak, they showed that there is
a lack of trust in govts among the population as govts tend to be corrupt or
ineffective so there is even groups of people who believe Ebola was a govt
hoax, not sure if they still hold the same views but it shows the complexity
of the situation.

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pasta
What I read is that most outbreaks spread a kind of linear while Ebola spreads
exponetial.

That's what is scary about Ebola. And ofcourse the fact there is still no
cure.

~~~
Retric
> no cure

Sort of, their are treatments that increase survival rates significantly.
Supportive hospital care might not seem as useful as a wonder pill, but an IV
drip can make a huge difference.

~~~
pariahHN
There are vaccines being deployed but stocks are extremely limited. If I
remember correctly, they are focusing on inoculating the social circles of
known infected. But you can only inoculate someone's social circle if you know
they have it...

It also doesn't help that medical teams sometimes get attacked by locals.

~~~
egeozcan
EDIT: Ignore my question, apparently rumors and skepticism about modern
medicine is why they attack medical teams:
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-ebola-congo-
attack...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-ebola-congo-
attack/attack-on-congolese-red-cross-ebola-ambulance-wounds-three-volunteers-
idUSKCN1MD2DC)

> It also doesn't help that medical teams sometimes get attacked by locals

Who is attacking them for what reason? Anti-vacciners or something?

~~~
selectodude
Rural Africa has had bad luck when it comes to white people coming in and
telling them what to do.

~~~
jtbayly
Eating portions of their dead? I never heard that. I just heard that they
weren’t able to do traditional funerals. Presumably that could be part of the
traditional funeral, but I’ve got close friends and family I would have
expected to hear that from. Do you have a reference?

~~~
davidmr
I just finished _Virus Hunters of the CDC_ , a 1996 book written by a couple
of CDC epidemiologists, one of which had led a couple of Ebola responses in
(what was then) Zaire and CAR. (He was even on the team that named the disease
for a river near the town the outbreak was in.)

He certainly didn’t mention cannibalism. They were most concerned about the
ritual washing before burial. Apparently the bodies are cleansed, bowels
washed, etc. Given how Ebola spreads, this was virtually a guarantee that
anyone handling the dead would contract the disease.

Their biggest successes were in teaching families how to use gloves, masks,
and bleach. Any danger the CDC teams were in seemed to be mostly limited to
political instability.

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sethammons
A fun read on Ebola and the outbreak in Virginia: the Hot Zone

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docbrown
NPR has an article on the Central African Republic's scouts who promote
vaccination, relay messages about the Ebola outbreak, and domestic chores —
[https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/19/6808273...](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/19/680827371/these-
scouts-are-prepared-for-dirty-dishes-and-keeping-the-peace)

Twitter thread from a MSW/JD with some more info regarding the Ebola outbreak
and interactions between DRC, CAR, and South Sudan —
[https://twitter.com/geopoliticaljd/status/108699357731649945...](https://twitter.com/geopoliticaljd/status/1086993577316499456?s=21)

