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Discussion: What is going on in Liberia?

Re: What is going on in Liberia?

Re: What is going on in Liberia?

Either way, it will be back. I'm not a healthcare professional, just a retired nurse who likes to read history - and we need to be ready for this coming back. Maybe use the lull to get things sorted out and learn lessons from it?
 
Re: What is going on in Liberia?

Re: What is going on in Liberia?

I too hope very much that this is an actual decrease in cases - but with a directive that all bodies must be cremated unless they can be certified as NOT being caused by ebola, I do fear that this is more about families doing their own burials in secret. Cremation is a massive taboo in this society.

Bodies are not being tested for ebola (labs are challenged enough to be testing the living) which means that, by and large, all deaths are being treated as ebola = cremation and removal by body teams, and this alone would explain the drop in funeral homes activity. If people are also hiding the sick at home again, then again, this simply means that people will be hiding their sick and their dead until transmission is so severe that entire communities are wiped out.

If secret burials are behind the drop, then there will likely be a massive explosion of cases fairly shortly (in the order of weeks). Lets all hope this is wrong... I must say that whilst cremation is ideal from a disease control perspective, from a sociological one, I think the cremation directive was a big mistake.
 
Re: What is going on in Liberia?

Re: What is going on in Liberia?

For that you need a cultural shift away from ancestor worship, or they need to find a way to incorporate this ancient belief system into cremation...

Perhaps give families the ashes of thier loved one, for later burial and adapt existing rites, e.g. use photos for the touching elements??
 
Re: Discussion: What is going on in Liberia?

BBC article discussing the current trajectory of the ebola epidemic in West Africa

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29847058

[...]
"What we've seen is, very clearly, a slowing down in the some of the affected areas in the three countries."
[...]
"We know there's under-reporting so we have to emphasise caution, but broadly we're out of this big epidemic growth phase seen in August and September."
[...]
Even if it is confirmed, 1,000 cases per week is still no cause for celebration.

That would be the equivalent of every other Ebola outbreak in history happening every fortnight.
[...]
He said: "That's probably right when you look at the whole outbreak, but in specific areas it's still growing exponentially.

[...]
However, the data remains extremely poor.

This is particularly pertinent in Liberia - where new cases are supposedly falling - as only 38% of the reported cases are actually laboratory confirmed, compared with 85% in Guinea.
[...]
 
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