It should probably set alarm bells ringing automatically when you read stories that begin like this:
A mysterious fever has killed 14 people and infected 37 others in western Uganda over the last three months, a Health Ministry official said on Friday.
as this Reuters story did on November 16th. It’s now clear that the illness is a new strain of Ebola – that kills victims of fever, rather than hemorrhagic bleeding. The BBC says Kenya has set up screening stations on the border. Ebola’s fatal in 80 per cent of cases, and there’s no cure. The Avian Flu Diary blog has a hair-raising photo that shows the weaknesses in the local public health system: the nurse has no gloves, no goggles, and an inadequate surgical mask.
