Replies to post #181932 on Biotech Values

[zipjet]

I hate to say it, but I could imagine infected people just being left to die without medical help at all.

I hate it too.

But absent some very quick decisive action where we* pull out all the stops (like using untested drugs and treatment approaches, mass evacuation and triage to separate infected from healthy), letting it "burn out"** is likely the default.

To work, the effort needs a single leader who understands the problem and can command the resources to deal with it.

That suggests to me that our military should be put in charge. But it would be a "war" they are ill prepared to fight.




* WHO has proven grossly incompetent.

** The problem with letting it "burn out" is that the loss of life will be huge even if ZEBOV can be limited to the three countries. Further, letting it "burn out" could fail with EBOV spreading across the entire continent - leaving oceans as the only effective border.

[ilpapa]

Obviously lack of care contributes to death rates, but cultural practices seem to be important as well

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/13/kissing-the-corpses-in-ebola-country.html