XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   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 Frontières (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.   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)