After the flurry of activities following the public dismay and outrage at Ebola transmitting to two healthcare workers in Dallas, Texas, we are nearing the end (of sorts) of the initial Ebola “saga” in the USA. The cruise ship Carnival Magic carrying a potentially infected healthcare worker has docked – no one was infected. There has been no other case of transmission within the US since 14th October. Whereas the incubation period of Ebola is 21 days, and therefore new cases can still arise in theory, the two healthcare workers were diagnosed early and the risk of transmission was negligible at best. It has been 8 days since Thomas Eric Duncan’s death, but infection control measures had been ramped up significantly ever since the first healthcare transmission was reported. USA is now ramping up surveillance of travellers from affected West African countries, but thankfully has not taken the drastic step of imposing a travel ban. The “Ebola czar” has started his job.

It is now time to focus on the countries that have been the worst hit – Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

Wikipedia has (as usual) a nice, regularly updated page with news. There’s even a map, which I have taken the liberty to put up here (it’s updated up to 17th October 2014).

Ebola outbreak map from Wikipedia. Updated as of 17th October 2014