And it just keeps getting better...
Fresh off the back of news out of Spain. First case of Ebola contracted IN the USA.
CDC's official statement just released:
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s1012-texas-health-care-worker.html
The story in Huffington
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/12/cdc-ebola-texas_n_5973726.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
It's going to make Mad Cows, SARS & AIDS look like Mardi Gras or an indigestion-inducing packet of Fruit Tingles by comparison. It was my sentiment months ago but after these latest deaths outside of continental Africa, it's safe to say that the horse has well & truly bolted & the issue is beyond any defensive containment strategy border protection, quarantine or western health services are prepared for. Fucking stupid, stupid situation. At the current rate of inaction, based on spatial, cultural & political limitations, environmental factors, geographic magnitude, economics & the underlying, though prevailing, conflict of interest by those who SHOULD be funding & leading the charge to stem, contain & eradicate (to the best of their abilities) Ebola, things are going to be beyond critical within 6mths.
While troubling to our own lives, what concerns me most is that we may see a western preoccupation with preserving itself & as a result the broader international community simply treating it as an African problem & effectively wrapping the continent in
Cordon Sanitaire i.e. traditionally a line around the village- no one goes in or out & death to those who try. The premise being that you isolate the hot-spots/outbreaks & you leave the disease & any potential hosts (healthy or otherwise) to essentially die off- natural selection. This is a practice which dates back to the 14th century methods of dealing with
Y. Pestis or the Black Plague, & a practice which is vastly chronicled throughout history has being barbaric & largely ineffective given the present & future collateral costs. It damns those under its application & sadly no amount of quarantine is going to stop this one unless the global community commits to tackling the problem in Africa. So long as we continue to act "remotely" the frequency in which Ebola comes knocking at our door will only heighten until eventually it's a genuine domestic issue.
Throw in the brewing & recurring wars of ideology & economics, well, sadly I fear this could very well be the most remarkable time in modern human history for all of the wrong reasons.
