More Ebola.... From Guinea to the DRC

Things are seemingly very fluid on the ground in efforts to contain the West African ebola outbreak as people quarantined in Liberia trying to escape are reportedly being fired on using live rounds by that country's military. Simultaneously, foreign aid workers are being pulled, with Canada pulling a team out being but the latest extraction.

One of two ebola testing facilities in Sierra Leone has been shut down due to a Senegalese epidemiologist becoming infected at the lab.

Yes, I am now getting into the sociology of the epidemic. From all news reports it is maddeningly difficult to get a sense as to what the state of things really are in West Africa. The WHO has stated that health workers are becoming ill and subsequently dying at an "unprecedented rate."

One reads things like 'we're hopeful,' and 'it appears that the worst may be behind the outbreak,' and yet the situation on the ground is anything remotely like stable as of the time of this entry. One has to think that the WHO is putting the best face on public statements. Just what the reality is remains well guarded sets of data.

Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), it is still being claimed that the Congolese outbreak is a different strain of ebola. This is entirely reasonable given that--according to the WHO-- the two strains of ebola in previous outbreaks of ebola in DRC have been the devastatingly lethal Zaire strain(up to 90% motality rate) and the Bundibugyo strain(50% motality rate). Given the distance between the ongoing West African outbreak and DRC unless someone(s) made it across hundreds of miles of west and central Africa, this really does look like a separate event. Believe me, it was not easy to come to that conclusion given all the issues that Africa has had over the past 50 years. I would not put money on it either way. I still don't yet know for certain that "Ebola Guinea" is a new strain. How could I know?

I just got a distillation of news stuffs about the new DRC outbreak. Features:

13 Probable Ebola Deaths & 565 Suspect In DR Congo

Recombinomics Commentary 18:15
August 26, 23:00

· Declaration of the epidemic by the Minister of Public Health August 24, 2014
· 13 people died of the disease (CFR 54%), including five health workers, about 24 cases suspects (16 women and 8 men)
· 11 people segregated
· 24 cases (16 women and 8 men) of Ebola virus disease outbreak in the area of health Boende, from July 28 to August 18, 2014 · 80 contacts identified for monitoring
· 4 positive samples from eight after a second analysis INRB
· 565 suspected cases investigated with gastroenteritis, diarrhea and vomiting.
· Index case identified Ikanamongo (100 km Boende): a woman who died on August 11 after consuming bushmeat hunted by her husband and that has contaminated your doctor and husband.
· yet unidentified strain between Zaire and Sudan. Awaiting the results from the laboratory in Franceville (Gabon).

Pieces d' origine: If my French is bad, it is because my French IS bad.

I think that the data is mostly good as I just got the following headline: Ebola epidemic declared in Congo


I do not believe that I have ever posted that I have been to West Africa. I went on a multiple country trip in 1995. I went to Gambia(official language is English), Guinea, Senegal, and Mali. It was a combination of business and pleasure. It is not unclear to me just how spending time in Africa has colored my impressions of the ebola outbreak. I do know that I have always been fascinated in the natural world. If I had a clue as to what I wanted to do before committing to my academic training, I would not have chosen engineering. My working career has been a lot of fun, and highly rewarding financially, but I do not find it especially self-actualizing. While solving a vexing problem is not without its charms, I have rarely gotten ecstatic in my work. I feel metamotivated much of the time, just not while pursuing my vocation.