The US Gets Ebola

The first known transmission of Ebola in the United States’ announcement on Sunday (../../October%2012th.jpg) sparked some interesting comments from those following the epidemic diligently. The nurse who tested positive for the virus is reportedly stable at the moment, while the affected West African states continue to fail to effectively quarantine and control the spread of the alarming spread of the virus.

It began in Guinea in December 2013; eleven months and 4,033 deaths later and the largest Ebola epidemic in recorded history is not showing signs of slowing down. The tally brings the total number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain and the United States to 8,399.

Meanwhile Kenya, classified as a “high-risk” country for the spread of the deadly Ebola virus by WHO in August, has also been named as one of the 19 states that could report an Ebola case in the next 30 days by the World Bank even if the outbreak in West Africa is contained. The recent scare of Ebola posed by the Kenyan woman who died at JKIA on Saturday almost proved the ominous statistic correct. There was a sigh of relief when she tested negative for Ebola and Marburg virus but the scare did not cause wide spread panic as might be expected. Kenyans, it seems, couldn’t be bothered.

The response to the US Ebola case is stronger with one disgruntled commentator saying “I know this is terrible but I’m glad it’s gotten to them (the US). Maybe they can finally start taking it seriously.” The statement made with more than a hint of shame speaks volumes about the realities the Ebola virus has highlighted between the ‘developed’ and ‘undeveloped’ countries and the relationship between them.

Vice News reporter Natasha Lennard gave an insightful comment stating”…the primary locus of suffering is not in the US, where the public health apparatus nullifies the threat of Ebola’s spread. It remains true that the primary beneficiaries of capitalist empire do not tend to die on dusty ground outside makeshift hospitals, bleeding from the eyes.”

In response to CNNs infamous comparison last week: ”Ebola: ‘The ISIS of biological agents?’” Teju Cole’s amusing riff last Thursday in the New Yorker highlighted the controversy arising from the virus “Ebola (the Obama of Osama, but don’t quote me) is literally the “Some of my best friends are black” of #NotAllMen.”

Those states not yet suffering the infection look on with macabre interest as the world undergoes a historical moment under the yoke of this deadly virus.