An excellent piece by the Washington Post today.

As with many other infectious diseases physicians, I have followed the Ebola outbreak in Africa with great interest. It had seemed incredible that the outbreak had continued to spread, especially given the nature of the virus (highly virulent, transmissible only via contact with infected body fluids and not respiratory droplets/airborne particles) and the history of past outbreaks. However, we have not understood or appreciated the situation on the ground during the past several months of the epidemic.

Even with the US military and global response, it will be several more months before we will know whether the outbreak will be controlled, months in which tens of thousands will undoubtedly perish. Each day brings a slight possibility that the Ebola virus will be exported to yet another country.