Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Ebola Coverage

 

# 1317

 

 

The outbreak of what appears to be a new strain of Ebola in Uganda has just about everyone's attention, including those of us in the Flu community.  

 

While avian flu is our primary concern, we have all expressed concerns at one time or another that the next pandemic could stem from something other than influenza.   In my essay It Isn't Just Bird Flu, I discuss that very issue, that we could someday face Pathogen X

 

Something new,  or a variation on an old theme.

 

I've posted a couple of times on the Ebola outbreak, and will most certainly do so again.  However, a couple of our intrepid flu bloggers are doing a very thorough job of covering that story, and rather than re-create the wheel, I'm going to refer my readers to them.

 

Scott McPherson has been covering this story for quite some time, long before the disease in Uganda was identified as Ebola.  

 

His latest blog, All hands on deck as Ugandan Ebola spreads; all save for one  is an excellent overview of the rapid spread of the virus, while his essay Thinking the unthinkable: Asymptomatic or Airborne Ebola in Uganda?  provides a disturbing look at what would be a nightmarish situation. 

 

SophiaZoe meanwhile has excerpts from a blog maintained by two doctors in Uganda in her recent entry  Standing at the Gates of Hell.   It is compelling reading. The Ugandan blogsite is Paradoxuganda written by Drs. Scott and Jennifer Myhre based in Bundibugyo, Uganda.

 

SophiaZoe has been on a roll the past few days, churning out one great blog after another.   In the past week she has tackled pneumonic plague in Zambia, NoroVirus in the UK, Infected meat in Poland, and the Ugandan outbreak

 

 

It is well worth your time to go back and read the earlier efforts of both of these writers.