Sunday, June 29, 2014

Ebola

This is getting closer to home. I don't recall spending any time at the ELWA hospital, but we've been by it.


Kits are being distributed, and instructions, but it is hard to get information or reliable bleach supplies upcountry were people don't speak very good English. I wonder if they've got some plans for quick and dirty isolation units in villages far from hospitals. Maybe the village can throw together some kind of shelter made of mats that they can burn when the patient is done, with triple layers of fabric to tie it together (burned or bleached later?). If the local folks get a clear understanding of the nature of the risks they can probably work up some mostly effective kludges. Not hospital quality or reliability, but orders of magnitude better than nothing...

Ebola is horrible and frightening, but malaria and dysentery kill more, and probably will still be the big killers even if ebola spreads.

1 comment:

Korora said...

Some years ago, a Kodos wannabe recommended Ebola as a means of relieving the surplus population. I suspect he'd immunize himself first, on the grounds that someone has to keep the prole caste from arrogating to themselves the privileges of electricity, running water, and sanitation above the "Gardez-l'eau!" level.