Good News in Ebola Outbreak!

[Wrabbit2000]

Hey Everyone! Lets try a place for some good news and positive developments. Goodness knows, enough have places to share the rest.

There is enough bad news about this beast to fill books and websites. In fact, some already have! It's amazing to see, and it already has a name too. CNN has termed it "Fear-Bola" and I must say they have a point to say it's more contagious and more dangerous than Ebola itself can be or ever has been. It's spreading everywhere!

So...what is this good news? Well, it isn't spreading QUITE everywhere. In fact, the World Health Organization is on the edge of declaring an END to the Ebola Outbreak in two major nations. Senegal and Nigeria.

If the active surveillance for new cases that is currently in place continues, and no new cases are detected, WHO will declare the end of the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Senegal on Friday 17 October. Likewise, Nigeria is expected to have passed through the requisite 42 days, with active surveillance for new cases in place and none detected, on Monday 20 October.

It can be easy, and ill considered, to lump all nations together as if Ebola just runs it's course without regard to circumstance or conditions. That is hardly the case, and with quick as well as skilled response in Nigeria (a nation of over 170 million people, with respectable infrastructure) they held their overall outbreak numbers to just twenty people and eight deaths. In a side note that adds a bit of chagrin for those hard on Nigeria? Their investigation was able to trace the first case to a Liberian-American. (sigh) Fate has a weird sense of humor at times.

News isn't so good everywhere...

In Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, new cases continue to explode in areas that looked like they were coming under control. An unusual characteristic of this epidemic is a persistent cyclical pattern of gradual dips in the number of new cases, followed by sudden flare-ups.

Source

However, this OP isn't about bad news. I include the above as a means of contrast to show just HOW good the news is from two nations that have been touched by, but appear to have suppressed, this epidemic. (crosses paws for continued good news there).

Anyway, if nothing else? This shows there is hope. Ebola isn't Armageddon and proper, timely response without hesitation can beat back what is a serious threat elsewhere. That can happen in 1st world nations like America or England and it can happen in 2nd to 3rd world nations such as Senegal and Nigeria. Now if only the good news would spread as fast as the fear running ahead of it, we might get somewhere in both directions!