Ending Ebola begins by ending our ignorance

Anything interesting in the screenshot below?

Yep, two NFL teams, and the Virgin Galactic crash, are more important news stories than is Ebola.  And, ahem, news about Taylor Swift is more important than about Ebola.  When there are no more Ebola cases in America, and when the "rebellious" nurse in Maine has been put in her place, we Americans don't have to worry about Ebola anymore.  We are back to seeking out entertainment.

To which there is only one possible response: boy, are we f*ed up with our priorities!

So, whatever happened to the Ebolapalooza?  Ebola continues to mess up people's lives.  Not in Africa.  But, in those three countries.  The Washington Post provides us with a helpful map of Ebola in Africa:

At least there is one influential guy in America who hasn't forgotten Ebola and continues to be involved:

“The world as a whole doesn’t have the preparedness for epidemics, and we’ve had a few flu scares that got us to do some minor things, but not enough,” he said in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene here. “If this thing had been twice as transmissive, we’d be in a lot of trouble, and there are agents that have a real chance of coming on in the next several decades that are far more transmissive than this is."

 And that guy is?  

Mr. Gates appeared moved after a 90-minute meeting at which two doctors who survived Ebola spoke. The epidemic is a key moment for global health, he said. “I think there’s a lot of lessons for future epidemics.”
Discussing the foundation’s reasons for getting involved, he said, “This disease, not only does it kill directly, it also shuts down health systems. If this thing had spread throughout West Africa, among other things you could throw out the window is the incredible progress we’ve made on polio.”

Meanwhile, scientists are slowly chipping away at understanding the virus:

What don’t we know about Ebola? In some ways, we’re only aware of how much we don’t understand because of the little that we do.

So, we are finally at Step 1--realizing how much we don't know about this virus, four decades in since the first detection.

This outbreak must not be viewed as an unthreatening “orphan infection,” a rare occurrence without global impact. The current epidemic will not abate quickly, and billions of dollars are needed in the field to limit the spread of the virus. But smart investment in research today will be repaid manifold in saved lives. In the United States, the money for Ebola has largely been a spinoff from the larger bioterrorism effort. Now representatives have awakened to its urgency, and there are calls from both sides of the Congressional aisle to revisit the level of federal research support in November after the midterm elections. Ending Ebola begins by ending our ignorance.

That's asking for too much.  Congress to revisit this after the midterm?  And to allocate money for research?  And for people to be involved, after stuffing themselves with stuffed turkeys?  Ain't gonna happen, unless the NFL is shut down because of Ebola infection!