Angry young men in the Congo are raiding Ebola treatment facilities.

 

Workers carry away the coffin of an Ebola victim in Bunia Congo. AP.

Angry young men in The Congo are raiding Ebola treatment facilities as the outbreak there continues to grow. AP. The outbreak has 900 suspected cases and between 100 and 200 people have already died. Three treatment facilities have been attacked due to anger over Ebola prevention measures that prevent friends and families from interacting with the deceased. Ebola primarily spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids, and traditional funeral practices often spread the disease. The virus in this case is the Bundibugyo virus, which is a subvariant of Ebola that does not have a vaccine. However, the chances of a global pandemic, or even a large outbreak, are still low. 

My Comment:

Ebola is back in the news and it sure looks like we are going to see another major outbreak. Though we are far from the bad days of 2014 where there was an extremely large outbreak that even managed to reach the United States, it's very possible we could see something similar with this outbreak of Bundibugyo.

The good news is that Ebolaviruses usually don't spread via the air. Supposedly in lab conditions it's possible but you really need contact with infected blood or other bodily fluids. That means a global pandemic is almost impossible, though, just like the West African epidemic back in the day, we could see limited cases in the West due to air travel. 

Bundibugyo is also slightly different than the Zaire virus that caused that outbreak. It's generally less lethal, 25% to 50% compared to 60% to 90% or so for Zaire, and is also considered less virulent. The bad news is that unlike the Zaire virus, there is no vaccine for Bundibugyo. 

In a sane world there would be little chance of the virus spreading. Like I said, if you don't come into contact with an infected person's blood, there is very little chance of you actually getting the virus. But we don't have a sane world. 

These attacks on treatment facilities are a good example of that. This is about the worst thing you could do with this kind of pandemic. Not only are folks potentially exposing themselves to the virus, they are also preventing treatment for sick people. Those infected people now probably have a better chance of dying and infecting others as well. 

Why folks are doing that is beyond me. I know folks want to have a proper funeral, but when the bodies are tainted like this, you absolutely shouldn't use traditional funeral techniques like this. I just don't understand the anger here, I know if I was struck down by Ebola, the last thing I would want is to spread it to my loved ones. 

So should we be worried about this outbreak? Not really. It's very dangerous for the folks in Africa who are unwilling or unable to take precautions against the virus, but it's not likely to spread beyond that. There's very little chance of the virus making it out of Africa, and almost zero chance of it becoming a pandemic. It's notable given the human suffering involved and the fact that these attacks are going to make it worse, but that's about it.