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From:
illegal@barackobama.com
The government of Guinea has failed to contain the virus—and now
an ‘out of control’ outbreak has spread to Liberia and Sierra
Leone. We could be in for a long, hot summer.
The Ebola virus outbreak that began this spring in Guinea, West
Africa, is refusing to fade out. Cases have spread into other
countries in West Africa, including Liberia and Sierra Leone,
and the current case count is staggering. With about 560
suspected cases (70 percent confirmed) and a death rate of more
than 65 percent, it’s the largest and most lethal Ebola virus
outbreak on record.
Most of the cases have been reported in Guinea, and of the
viruses studied thus far, almost all relate closely to the
strain seen in 2012 in the Congo. Disturbingly, the cases seen
recently are increasing sharply in Sierra Leone, with 31 new
cases in the past few days, while settling down finally in
Guinea.
The medical support organization Doctors Wthout Borders, or
Médecins Sans Frontičres (MSF), made noise this week by
proclaiming that the outbreak was “out of control,” and another
expert labeled the smoldering epidemic the “tip of the iceberg.”
Although the outbreak represents no threat outside the affected
area, the two diagnoses appear to be correct: Lame government
efforts have resulted in an unabated series of cases.
As I wrote when the first wave of cases appeared, Ebola is not
that hard to contain, assuming a country provides the rudiments
of public health: isolation, masks and gowns, messages to
families and towns about how to avoid the illness.
Unfortunately, the governments affected appear to have failed at
this most basic governmental responsibility.
It is difficult to know just what has failed: whether the World
Health Organization support was pulled away too quickly; whether
countries relied too much on outside organizations for manpower
and supplies; or whether the governments thought that by
ignoring the problem, it would go away. But it has not and will
not—until serious, sustained efforts are in place.
The lesson of the June Ebola outbreak is identical to the one
from March. Outbreaks of various frightening diseases, from
malaria to HIV to Ebola, will continue where health care systems
are poorly structured and underfunded. Dr. Mwayabo Kazadi, who
leads one of the many relief organizations in the area, summed
up the problem quite succinctly to NBC News: “When you don’t
have a proper health system in place, it is pretty difficult [to
contain an epidemic].” Let’s hope the flurry of publicity MSF
and other professionally worried groups have generated will
rally attention and spur the necessary resources and political
pressure required to bring the nightmarish epidemic to a close.
Because without both money and governmental will, we could be in
for a long, hot summer.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/23/the-ebola- outbreak-in-west-africa-is-just-getting-worse.html
Send the American Democrats over to fight it.
Ť
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)