Some areas are under blockade
, but there is also the problem of making sure the burials are deep enough and secure enough.
They don't have the proper equipment or enough people over there to help isolate and contain people. The easiest way to catch Ebola is exposure to blood or bodily fluids. Without a secure patient with the ability to properly dispose of these materials, the containment, even the very blankets and clothes the person was wearing, it's going to spread like wildfire.
Another thing to consider is this is a mostly Islamic population. When a person dies they are supposed to be washed by a family member of the same gender then buried loose so they may rejoin the earth. This cannot be allowed if that person died from Ebola. Contrast it with the cholera epidemics of china and south america where burial was also the custom. In China, burial near water was required, but that also meant you were infecting water supplies for miles around.
Canada has a patient in isolation until tests can be confirmed.
They are a Canadian citizen recently back from Nigeria who is showing flu like symptoms.
That will take far more rearrangement than a mere mutation - air is a very different environment than water. Plus, given the presence of free radicals and UV radiation an air borne virus has its range limits as well.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanAnother factor that helps viruses mutate or evolve is the amount of people a particular strain can effect. Right now this ebola strain requires bodily fluids or moisture to spread and isn't terribly good at surviving outside of their victims for very long - probably not even a full day. But as the virus successfully spreads from victim to victim it will, over time, develop resistances and alterations. And there exists the potential for something nasty to evolve - say, a gene strain durable and small enough to survive in airborne particles.
Fortunately as one of the previous troopers mentioned the virus is too complex to survive as an aerosol, so that means it's gonna be awhile before that happens.
...Wut. (Century eggs are preserved by chemical methods, not biological. Also, none of the above are likely to help against Ebola, unless you use that alcohol as a disinfectant, and even then it's still a long shot.)
edited 10th Aug '14 10:58:30 AM by Pyrite
Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.Older customs could be brought back. The cremation of disease victims (house and all — sometimes not even when totally dead, either... sad to say <winces>) used to be practised in times of crisis. Using a dedicated suicide squad to implement the rules, usually. The moment any one member of that squad got visibly sick, they were duty-bound to join the nearest fire they had set. Once the plague seemed to be settling down: they all walked into flame. (The incentive was that their family got preferential treatment for at least a generation... and their death-names would be guaranteed to be sung in the songs of lineages as noted heroes, whatever else they had done in life, no matter if they had been sentenced to have their names wiped, before.)
The problem is... cremation of persons and possessions due to disease is a traditional African custom, not an Islamic one. <_< Sensible, but rather grim. -_-
edited 10th Aug '14 11:23:23 AM by Euodiachloris
Unfortunately if Facebook and the histories of many of the commenters there is any indication, a disturbing amount really do believe in the crap they're spewing. Seems to be mostly amongst the older generation over 40 years of age and older though. I've always wondered why is that the case...
edited 10th Aug '14 11:02:09 PM by SgtRicko
Nigeria has 10 confirmed cases
. So far all of the cases have to do with people who were in contact with Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American financial consultant who flew in that way from Liberia. Both Sawyer and another nurse who treated him are dead.

Oh God's angry at Liberia alright. Might have just a tiny bit more to do with the rivers of shit running in the streets and otherwise just general lack of care for hygiene and less to do with sexuality if the VICE documentary on the country is any indication....
EDIT- Did not want to pagetop with that.
How about news on the spread? The latest map on wikipedia shows Sierra Leone almost ALL red.
edited 9th Aug '14 3:09:37 AM by FFShinra