www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/world/africa/what-to-know-ebola-africa.html
The NYT has always been a paper for deep thinkers, but to hear them report about infectious diseases nowadays … sigh. I know the real problem isn’t the NYT though it’s their sources. Vapid public health meanderings from Trump selected sycophants does not educate or motivate anyone serious about stopping this virus. If they wanted to help Ebola’s next case fatalities they would simply write.
Public health has become a amature pastime and we’re all about to suffer serious consequences because of the ineptitude.
Seriously, stop citing The CDC. They are no-longer a reliable public health agency. Don’t even bother blaming them either. Just ignore them. The problem will self-correct when the shackles of gerrymandering are again lifted.
In the meantime spot on supporting the WHO, they are our only hope. Why not just post their declaration and report on how they are doing from the field.
We definitely don’t need another Ebola timeline. Here’s why. The timeline describes a control system that was developed and then dissembled. This means we do not have any guardrails in place, and we also don’t have the information needed to evaluate what happens with this next outbreak which was already on the cusp of escaping containment.
If NYT could be so kind to get us accurate and timely reporting on the actual situation that would be much more helpful than another stale fact sheet normalizing a catastrophe in the making.
Here are some actual facts though to share with any reporting team you send.
In addition to the loss of The CDC and humanitarian networks and support many of the experts on Ebola treatment are now dead.
Onset of Symptoms is sudden and severe.
Symptoms include same indications as any other virus: fever, headache, muscle ache, and headache, with sore throat.
Other symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhea, and red rash.
In what amounts to around 1 in 2 patients a severe and fatal form develops after a patient goes in for flu treatment and is sent home to recover.
The serious cases will then experience hemorrhagic diathesis is often accompanied by hepatic damage, renal failure, central nervous system (CNS) involvement, and terminal shock with multiorgan dysfunction.
Laboratory findings usually show lymphopenia, severe thrombocytopenia, and transaminase elevation (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transferase, sometimes with hyper-amylasemia, elevated creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen levels during the final renal failure phase.
Case-fatality rates for Ebola infections in well-studied outbreaks in Africa have ranged from 32% to nearly 88%.
Infections during pregnancy result frequently in the death of the fetus or the newborn and high mortality is seen in the mother.
Virus can persist for several months in immune privilege sites such as the eyes, CNS, or testicles. In rare cases. severe recurrent clinical symptoms have been described in Ebola infections.
Persistence of virus in semen and can be responsible for secondary infections in sex partners
The good news is that few foreign providers die when they contract Ebola because they have always been affiliated with the best healthcare centers in the USA. Of course we used to be a lot better at quarantine and healthcare.