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WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak An International Emergency

Posted by Unknown on from the we're-all-gonna-die dept.

mdsolar (1045926) writes with news that, with the Ebola outbreak growing out of control, the WHO has declared an international health emergency. From the article: With cases rapidly mounting in four West African countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) today declared the Ebola outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a designation that allows the agency to issue recommendations for travel restrictions but also sends a strong message that more resources need to be mobilized to bring the viral disease under control. ... This is only the third time the health agency has issued a PHEIC declaration since the new International Health Regulations (IHR), a global agreement on the control of diseases, were adopted in 2005. The previous two instances were in 2009, for the H1N1 influenza pandemic, and in May for the resurgence of polio.

4 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. The infection the 'right-sizes' the human race by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    The human race population is out of control, and it is simply a matter of time before nature corrects the situation. Take a cross-country flight and marvel at how 90% of the land mass now is infested with human activity. It probably is the largest animal infestation that the planet has ever seen - and it cannot end well.

    1. Re:The infection the 'right-sizes' the human race by Z00L00K · · Score: 1, Troll

      I think that it's as insightful as it can be. There are too many humans around. We do see Ebola which is bad and is propagated through contact which means that it's not very contagious. Hand us something that's at least as deadly as Ebola, contagious as the common cold and with an incubation time of several weeks and you have a "winner".

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:The infection the 'right-sizes' the human race by scubamage · · Score: 1, Troll

      I'll get rated down for this, but I agree with you. People don't want to look at a lot of hard facts. We currently have about 7.046 billion people alive (based on 2012 numbers). Our global human population is increasing by approximately 1.1% annually, which means we will double to 14 billion people in 63 years (following the rule of 72). Nearly about 870 million people are currently suffering from chronic malnourishment. 780 million lack ready access to water. Realistically, do we think logistical changes to provide food and water for another 7 billion people are possible in the next 63 years? Another 14 billion in 128 years? Another 28 billion in 193 years? Worse, some countries see growth rates as high as 1.8%, which would shorten that doubling rate to about 40 years. Exponential growth is a bitch. While ebola is no where near a nice way to go, a pandemic that wipes out a significant portion of the world may be preferable to experiencing water and food wars that will occur if we aren't able to institute logistics to provide for the constant influx of mouths to feed. Otherwise, we are going to be looking at global population controls within our childrens' or our grandchildrens' lifetimes.

  2. Americans flown to U.S. to prevent spread by NemoinSpace · · Score: 0, Troll

    /*head explodes.
    In other news, Pelosi continues to study the American Healthcare Act. (not really)