
The race to contain West Africa's Ebola outbreak - Vik1ng
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-04/11/ebola-open-street-map
======
mediaman
There are two companies that have demonstrated cures to the Ebola and Marburg
viruses: Tekmira, based in Vancouver BC, and Sarepta, in Boston. Initial data
shows that they have 85%-100% cure rates receiving the medicine up to 72hrs
from initial exposure, as tested on monkeys.

Unfortunately a portion of this research was funded by the DoD, which decided
to cut funding in 2012 at least for the Sarepta Marburg cure, which
significantly slowed down progress and prevented any stockpiling of the
medicine.

~~~
wooter
So if the US DoD doesn't fund medical research, not a single other
organization or country does? If that is the case, then turning DoD funding
back on does not seem like a sustainable plan.

What is the response from the EU's member states (who's medical systems are
often touted as superior)? After all, they're much closer to this than we are.

~~~
mediaman
I don't know the answer to your question of whether other countries fund
development of Marburg or Ebola treatments.

I believe at the time the DoD funded it out of pure national self-interest:
regardless of geographic proximity, just one infected person on the wrong
flight could present a massive national security risk.

To be fair the DoD did continue funding Ebola cures with Tekmira, and Tekmira
earlier this year began dosing of the first human patient. That patient is
healthy and the dosing is to test the safety profile of the drug. Reportedly
the WHO has not requested any emergency supplies of Tekmira's drug yet.

~~~
timr
The DoD funded it because they're worried about weaponized Ebola and Marburg.
Given that the DoD is in the middle of a budget crunch, it's believable that
they'd cut funding for defense programs against less-likely military threats.

------
Vik1ng
More information in the OpenStreetMap Wiki:
[http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_Re...](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_Response)

Here is also a great visualization of the development after satelite images
were available: [https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/images/a/a8/Gueckedou-
mappi...](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/images/a/a8/Gueckedou-mapping-
progress.gif)

And the changesets: [https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/images/f/fe/Gueckedou-
chang...](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/images/f/fe/Gueckedou-changesets-
ebola-response.png)

\---

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229644.400-online-
ar...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229644.400-online-army-helps-
map-guineas-ebola-outbreak.html)

[http://redcrosschat.org/2014/04/10/digital-mapping-
volunteer...](http://redcrosschat.org/2014/04/10/digital-mapping-volunteers-
save-lives-from-the-comfort-of-their-homes/)

------
timr
This outbreak is scary because it's finally hit a major city in Africa.

All you need is for one case to hop on an international flight, and things get
much harder to control.

~~~
Crito
Does Ebola present a threat to modern industrialized countries?

My understanding is that it is spread through contact with bodily fluids of an
infected person, so in order to be safe you can basically just drink sealed
bottled water and eat food that you prepared yourself (canned only, if people
handling fresh food might be infected?).

HIV is also transmitted by fluids (though nowhere near as easily) but HIV has
a longer incubation period which makes it more difficult for industrialized
nations to deal with.

~~~
sfall
i think part of it has to do with the high fatality rate along with no
specific treatment plan

~~~
Crito
Aye, it's certainly dangerous. I'm mostly wondering what likely outcome of
Ebola infected passengers on a plane to NYC would be. I am inclined to think
that Ebola would not spread particularly well in a city like that, and would
be quickly contained/isolated.

~~~
timr
Hard to say. Most hospitals are not prepared for (and don't expect) a disease
like Ebola to walk through the door. So while we have much better standards of
cleanliness and isolation than a hospital in sub-saharan Africa, we're still
likely to be taken by surprise by a patient who presents with a bad fever.

The worst case is that someone gets infected and flies to a major city before
they get really sick. You could have a huge network of transmission before it
ever hits a hospital.

~~~
mapt
I would say the worst case is a working class African immigrant heads back
home to see their ailing parents, contracts Ebola, and flies back to Paris or
London while suffering from a head cold or the flu that makes them cough &
sneeze. After the flight, they go back to their job as a line cook. They tough
out the sinus infection, because their job requires them to. A week later,
major symptoms start to develop and finally they seek a progression of primary
care doctor, urgent care, hospital ER, and finally hospital isolation ward
when they approach the end and the symptoms are identified for what they are.
In this time they've not only hit the plane passengers, they've used packed
mass transit a dozen times and infected thousands through food.

Bodily fluids can be a moderate danger or they can be a very severe danger,
based largely on the circumstances of the infected.

~~~
adventured
Can you elaborate on ebola's ability to survive / transmit via something like
food? How long can it continue to be contagious in that type of scenario?
Would some foods be more friendly as a transport?

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ibrad
What's worse in guinea right now, is that anyone that is showing any symptoms
even remotely related to the disease is quarantined with others with it. It
sucks because what is the other thing to do?

The panic is spreading and people don't know what to do, hence why violence is
now breaking.

~~~
coldtea
> _It sucks because what is the other thing to do?_

Quarantine them in separate spaces?

I mean, DUH!

~~~
mkingston
Warning, rampant speculation:

Say ten people come in with similar symptoms but no certainty of Ebola. You
quarantine them all as 'maybe'. It later turns out one actually has Ebola. The
other 'maybe' cases are now likely at a very similar level of risk to that
which they would have been at had they been quarantined with definite cases.

Yes, quarantining them separately is better, but probably not much better, and
in many cases probably not sufficently better to consume considerably limited
resources.

Summary: I don't think this warrants 'DUH!'.

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dperny
Ebola has a startlingly high fatality rate, but most cases of it are in
developing nations. Does anybody know what fatality rate you could expect from
advanced medicine and techniques in a developed nation?

~~~
orcadk
The fatality rate would be the same. We do not have any treatments available
for any of the Ebola strains, as such our only option is to limit the spread.
Whether developed nations are better able to do so, I'm not sure.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Governments in the West are stronger, so might be more able to rapidly contain
outbreaks as a result, perhaps?

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chatman
The title currently reads: "OpenStreetMap and The race to contain West
Africa's Ebola outbreak"

It should be "OpenStreetMap and The Red Cross / MSF ..."

------
danmaz74
This article is so poorly written/researched that it makes me doubt its
content. If you know anything about Africa, how can you confuse Gaddafi's
Libya with Tunisia? And, according to wikipedia, Ebola has a mortality rate of
68%; where does the 90% come from?

~~~
Brakenshire
> They had experimented after the fall of Gaddafi in Tunisia, with a sole
> employee mapping a refugee camp for internal use.

During and after the fall of Gaddafi, tens if not hundreds of thousands of
people left Libya, most of them going to neighbouring countries. That comment
refers to one of the refugee camps set up by the Red Cross in Tunisia, for
Libyan refugees.

