Deadly disease now spread to million-city
Imagine the horror: A disease that kills 25% up to nearly everyone that gets infected has reached a city of a million inhabitants. To make matters worse this city is a transport hub, making the spreading of the deadly virus to other big towns even more likely.
That is the sort of things that keeps infections specialists awake in the deepest night.
You didn’t hear about it?
That is probably because we are not talking about a “western” city. This is “only” about Mbandaka, a Congo city.
But it is not hard to see how this Ebola outbreak could spread to major cities all around the globe. Congo’s capital Kinshasa is just one hour away. That is one jump for the virus before it can board a plane.
And the illness can take weeks until you show symptoms. Can a Canadian doctor identify Ebola?
The matter is made worse by the lack of of a vaccine. There is only an experimental drug but that has to be cooled to at least -60°C. But even the hospitals in Mbandaka can’t be sure to have electricity, so bad is the system.
There is one think thought that gives hope: The people of Congo are used to the disease, it is already the ninth outbreak in that country and they know what to do.
