General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What We’re Afraid to Say About Ebola [View all]Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)messy fashion. Which includes hacking and coughing a lot of spit and snot into the air.
Saying "ebola isn't currently airborne" does not mean I would think it'd be a good idea to hang around an ebola patient who is hacking and coughing big droplets of spit.
As for how the doctors got sick- they're all working crazy shifts in 100 degree heat, down there. Mistakes happen. The infected doctors themselves acknowledged this. If it were being spread, regularly, above and beyond how they know it is transmitted, we would probably see greater numbers than we are now. The rate of spread would be even higher than it is.
I don't think it can be contained on the continent, not totally, obviously- as I said downthread a lot will depend on how well additional outbreaks are contained. Fortunately, despite some setbacks, it appears Nigeria is getting a handle on their situation. I don't think there's any great mystery as to why this epidemic is worse than prior ones- it cropped up in a region which is highly traveled between 3 countries (the 3 countries where, 9 months later, the disease is still primarily situated) and some pretty big mistakes were made early on, between people not recognizing it, the relevant authorities not taking it seriously enough, etc. by the time it reached major cities (Conkary, and later Monrovia) which also happened to be densely populated AND with poor health care infrastructure, a disaster was practically inevitable.
I agree with your last sentence, totally.