#CoronaVirus Pandemic

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[gumjrop]

On February 13, 2024, the Washington Post reported that the CDC is considering ending the five-day isolation period for those with a COVID infection according to anonymous CDC staff. It is imperative that the CDC minimally maintains current isolation guidelines to prevent the unnecessary spread of COVID.

Why is the five day isolation period necessary? The five-day isolation period has allowed people infected by COVID to rest and recover from illness and prevent the exposure and spread of COVID to uninfected people. Ideally, a ten-day isolation period is better to ensure an adequate amount of time for rest and recovery.

Allowing your immune system sufficient time to fight the infection is important. Rest and recovery from an active COVID infection is important, as physical overexertion can have adverse effects on one’s health. Even if vaccinated, boosted, and healthy, a COVID infection can greatly harm one's health, and may lead to Long COVID, a condition that has harmed and disabled millions of Americans.

Prevention of exposure to and spread of COVID requires a minimum five-day isolation period. Clear evidence demonstrates that in the course of an active COVID infection, the highest viral load occurs approximately by day 4 of an infection. Some people may have their symptoms end earlier than others, however, early symptom resolution does not necessarily mean the end of infectiousness, as asymptomatic COVID transmission can occur. Ultimately, by preventing COVID infections, the likelihood of people becoming severely ill from COVID, as well as those who will develop long COVID, will be greatly reduced.

The CDC will be considering and making a decision by April. During this time, we urgently ask Congress and the White House to intervene and ensure that the CDC maintains the current COVID five-day isolation policy. 

Instructions:

We must ask Congress and the White House to ensure the CDC maintains the current 5 day isolation policy for COVID infection. It is important that the CDC maintains its current policy to ensure that the American people have enough time to rest and recover from an active COVID infection, as well as to prevent the spread of COVID to other people. Rest and recovery is important, as an infection can have adverse effects on health. Even those vaccinated, boosted, or healthy could face irreversible harm from COVID. Having multiple infections has the potential to increase the risk of developing Long COVID, a condition that has already injured and disabled millions of Americans. Submit a letter to your government officials via Action Network!

Letter to White House and Congress

Example Letter Below:

Dear Representative,

I am writing to ask you to ensure that the CDC maintains the current isolation policy for those with an active COVID infection, as this protects the health and well being of all Americans at work, school, and all other places of gatherings.

COVID infections injure, harm, and cause death among millions of Americans. Everyone must be protected from COVID infections. COVID is spread through the inhalation of aerosol particles, and the risk of becoming infected is higher in indoor settings compared to outdoor settings. Due to its mechanism of spread, the current 5-day isolation policy is a primary key layer of protection for prevention, as opposed to other approaches against infections in public settings. 

Shortening the isolation window is a failure to recognize the clear scientific evidence that people may have the highest viral loads by day 4 of an infection.(1) For some people, their symptoms may abate below the 5-day time window, but they may remain infectious.(2)

The public relies on guidelines that establish sufficient standards in workplaces and other places of gathering. It ensures protection in vulnerable settings, such as healthcare, long-term care facilities, schools, and workplace settings. COVID remains an ongoing pandemic and threat to the health of the American people. Ongoing reinfections result in more people developing Long COVID.(3)  Any consideration to reduce or eliminate the COVID isolation guideline inexplicably fails to acknowledge core control measures for infectious disease. Any changes prevent the public’s ability to have a standard threshold for rest and recovery from a COVID infection. 

We ask for your support to ensure that the CDC prioritizes the health of people first. We urge you to act on the behalf of all people, especially for those who are most vulnerable. This includes those with advanced age, the immunocompromised, those living with other health conditions, disabled people. Let’s decrease infections in our communities by keeping scientific and evidence-based isolation guidelines.

References:

1. Jennifer K Frediani, Richard Parsons, Kaleb B McLendon, Adrianna L Westbrook, Wilbur Lam, Greg Martin, Nira R Pollock, The New Normal: Delayed Peak SARS-CoV-2 Viral Loads Relative to Symptom Onset and Implications for COVID-19 Testing Programs, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 78, Issue 2, 15 February 2024, Pages 301–307, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciad582

2. Rinki Deo, Manish C. Choudhary, Carlee Moser, et al. Symptom and Viral Rebound in Untreated SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Ann Intern Med.2023;176:348-354. [Epub 21 February 2023]. doi:10.7326/M22-2381

3. Bowe, B., Xie, Y. & Al-Aly, Z. Postacute sequelae of COVID-19 at 2 years. Nat Med 29, 2347–2357 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02521-2.

Submit Letter to Government Leaders

[lasseling]

Fauci Aide Admits He Made ‘Smoking Gun’ Emails ‘Disappear’ To Keep Fauci Out of Prison

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s former staff understood they were working for a man who was routinely trampling all over the law, damaging the lives of innocent people, and who deserved to be investigated and thrown in prison for the rest of his life, a congressional hearing revealed Thursday.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Health officials in British Columbia say they have detected the first known Canadian case of the BA.2.86 COVID-19 virus variant.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control confirmed it was found in a person in the Fraser Health region, east of Vancouver, who has not travelled outside of the province.

In a joint statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said they are monitoring the variant but added it "was not unexpected" for it to show up in B.C. or in Canada.

"So far, there does not seem to be increased severity with this strain of COVID and the individual is not hospitalized," the statement reads.

Henry told CBC News that whole genome sequencing on viruses found in wastewater has not found the variant. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @vague-humanoid

[rikaklassen]

CW: COVID-19

via @augieray@mastodon.social

Yes, I wish the general public takes COVID more seriously.

Coronavirus is not like the flu nor RSV and we've known about that since MERS and the first SARS. Also, massively disappointed with queer assimilationists since COVID is quite similar to HIV/AIDS and given how the government's eugenicist policies and their anti-LGBT campaigns wiped out many of the people who would have been elders in our communities today. Let's alone the deaf communities with the older generations of sign language folks becoming deaf and multi-disabled because of rubella, which is much more infectious than COVID.

I encourage you to read what Augie has to say since the screenshot is a snapshot of a five-parts thread.

Here is the spreadsheet where Augie took the time to read over 1 500 studies and summarized the findings of about 500 of them: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12VbMkvqUF9eSggJsdsFEjKs5x0ABxQJi5tvfzJIDd3U/

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Moderna will keep its COVID vaccine on the market at no cost to consumers, even after the federal government stops paying for it, the company announced Wednesday.

"Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay," the company said in a statement.

Last month, the vaccine maker was slammed for reportedly considering a dramatic price increase for the shot, which it had developed with the help of the federal government.

The proposal was also bad timing: The Biden administration was moving toward ending its designation of a public health emergency on May 11, which meant that federal funding for vaccines would soon dry up and uninsured Americans would have to pay out of pocket for their boosters.

Among the critics of Moderna's reported consideration of a price increase -- from about $26 a shot to as much as $130 -- was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long advocated for government-funded health care and alleged the move would result in deaths.

"How many of these Americans will die from COVID 19 as a result of limited access to these lifesaving vaccines?" Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in a January letter to Moderna.

"While nobody can predict the exact figure, the number could well be in the thousands. In the midst of a deadly pandemic, restricting access to this much needed vaccine is unconscionable," he added.

Now, Moderna will be the sole manufacturer of COVID vaccines offering its shot for free to the uninsured. Under federal regulation, insurance companies are already required to foot the bill for COVID vaccines.

"Moderna remains committed to ensuring that people in the United States will have access to our COVID-19 vaccines regardless of ability to pay," the company wrote in its statement.

"Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors' offices or local pharmacies. For uninsured or underinsured people, Moderna's patient assistance program will provide COVID-19 vaccines at no cost" after the public health emergency expires.

To date, the federal government paid for all COVID vaccines for Americans, whether they were insured or not using emergency money passed by Congress. But President Joe Biden says he plans to let the nationwide public health emergency expire May 11.

Once that happens, federal support ends for many of the programs put in place to help uninsured Americans, including expanded Medicaid, testing and treatments.

Last month, the World Health Organization said COVID-19 remains a public health emergency worldwide, but that the pandemic was at a "transition point."

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the "global response remains hobbled because in too many countries, these powerful, life-saving tools are still not getting to the populations that need them most – especially older people and health workers."

[spiderhungry]

The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and I encourage you to wear a mask to protect yourself and others

This is my own little PSA. The COVID-19 pandemic is still happening, is still deadly, and can cause life-long disabilities.

But there is an easy, cheap way to protect yourself and others! N95 masks have been shown to be 95% effective. I highly recommend everyone wear a mask when indoors or in crowded areas. If you stopped masking or never masked, it's not too late to start! There is 100% nothing wrong with making a change to your life or your behavior. Humans constantly learn and grow!

I have two articles to share today to try to convince you to make a change.

The first is on the efficacy of masks—how well they work.

First is this February 2022 page from the U.S.'s CDC:

[Graphic from the CDC showing that respirators masks, such as N95 or KN95 masks, lower the odds of testing positive for COVID-19 by 83%. Surgical masks lower the odds by 66%, and cloth masks lower the odds by 56%. You can find out more at bit.ly/MMWR7106.]

Second is this article from the California newspaper The East Bay Times. It's behind a paywall, but here are the key parts:

"After rising for three months, the positivity rate is quickly approaching the record high positivity rate for a summer surge — 16% in July of 2022."

"In Contra Costa County, wastewater is also showing high concentrations of the virus, and the county public health department urged residents this week to mask in crowded indoor situations, 'particularly for those at high risk of serious illness if infected.'"

And this:

"'Face masks are an effective tool to reduce the spread of the virus,' Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Contra Costa County’s health officer said in a statement. 'This is one of those times. Our health system is not seriously impacted by COVID currently, and our goal is to keep it that way.'

Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley, thinks Contra Costa Health’s recommendation is 'excellent advice.'

"'There are still too many people being hospitalized and too many people dying,' Swartzberg said, pointing to the fact that annual COVID deaths still exceed the number of deaths during a normal flu season."

And I think this graphic is particularly helpful in understanding that we are indeed still in the middle of a pandemic.

[Graph from the California Department of Public Health showing COVID-19 positivity rates over time, from January 2020 to August 2024. Each year is represented by a different color line over the course of the year, to compare the spikes. The red 2024 line shows that the January 2024 peak and the August 2024 peak are comparable to the January 2023 peak and the July 2022 peak.]

Knowledge is power, and you can use knowledge to make more informed decisions.

Please wear a mask!

[alwaysbewoke]

[theradicalscholar]

🌡️⚖️ Bacterial Pneumonia: Lessons from the Past, Relevance to COVID-19 🦠🔍

The 1918 influenza pandemic taught us about the significant role of bacterial pneumonia, overshadowing the primary viral infection. This knowledge remains relevant to COVID-19.

🧪 Unveiling the Evidence: Autopsy findings showed that secondary bacterial infections were the primary cause of death during the 1918 pandemic.

⚙️ Viral-Bacterial Interplay: Combining influenza viruses with bacteria led to severe disease, highlighting their synergistic effects.

💡 Pandemic Preparedness: Recognizing the importance of bacterial pneumonia is vital in preparing for future outbreaks. Preventing, diagnosing, and treating bacterial pneumonia should be prioritized.

😷 Finding Balance: While masks are essential in curbing the spread of COVID-19, excessive and indiscriminate usage may have drawbacks. Research has raised concerns about certain mask types potentially increasing respiratory infections.

�� Navigating Complexity: We need a comprehensive approach that balances mask usage with overall health considerations to create a resilient society.

🌍🤝 Building a Healthier Future: By learning from history, we can prioritize public health, prepare for future pandemics, and minimize unintended consequences. Let's stay vigilant and #StopTheSpread.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The release of the Ontario Ombudsman’s new report on the province’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) warrants reflection on the primary role of the tribunal: evictions.

The Ombudsman wrote that tenants and landlords share a common interest in making the LTB run smoothly. In truth, a more efficient approach to processing cases at the LTB will only further speed up evictions and serve to facilitate the profit-making of landlords who can raise rents on vacant units once sitting tenants have been removed.

Despite the LTB’s many internal issues, the main reason the tribunal is overwhelmed is due to the sheer volume of eviction cases landlords file against tenants. Tribunals Ontario reported that in 2021-2022, 88 per cent of all applications received by the LTB were filed by landlords against tenants, and in 89 per cent of those applications (more than 48,500), landlords sought to evict tenants.

Landlords also added to the much-discussed backlog of cases at the LTB throughout the entirety of the pandemic, as the Ontario government allowed them to continue to file for eviction against tenants uninterrupted. In fact, the Ombudsman reported that during the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020, when eviction hearings were paused for a short time, the LTB still struggled to process the high number of applications it continued to receive.

The discussion surrounding the problems at the LTB often neglects to mention the political history of the tribunal. In 1997, the Mike Harris Conservative government enacted the Tenant Protection Act, which eliminated rent control on vacant units between tenants, instituting what is known as vacancy decontrol. At the same time, the law removed landlord-tenant cases from the provincial court system and created the precursor to the LTB to handle them, the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal.

During the legislative debate at the time, the minister of housing said that his government’s goal was to create favourable conditions for investment in housing. In reality, his government made it more potentially profitable for landlords to evict tenants, and failed to encourage the construction of any significant amount of new, purpose-built rental housing."

////

A friend added this:

"According to this article and the Ombudsman's report, in 2021-22, 88 percent of applications to LTB were by landlords against tenants. Of that 88 percent, 89 percent were landlords seeking evictions. In other words, 78 percent of all LTB applications are for evictions!

I can hear the cries now: "If tenants have problems, they can also file with the LTB!" The vast majority of tenant problems are immediate problems, like shit that needs fixing and harassment and illegal behaviour by landlords. Most tenant problems are not solved by the LTB and often not even solved by landlords. Many tenants fix their own problems because waiting for the landlord is a hassle. The LTB is a virtual non-factor in the lives of tenants, but the landlord's means of getting rid of tenants they don't want or who stand in the way of a profitable new redevelopment.

The above numbers put into perspective the grievance of landlords that the LTB has too long a backlog. It is the volume of eviction applications that is the source of the backlog. And by pure coincidence we've been pelted with news story after story since the start of the pandemic of the worst possible tenants living rent-free for many months while the poor landlord's family is caught in the lurch while establishing their little neo-feudal exploitation scheme. You don't even need to read the press. The Terrorizing Tenant is a story you'll hear often enough.

Are the landlords calling for the LTB to be expanded to meet needs? No, their intimate collaborators in government are seeking efficiencies! You see, the the backlog is a problem to be solved by efficiency! Never mind the avalanche of eviction applications from landlords!

How many of these evictions are the disgusting and widely-abused practice of renovictions? Aren't renovictions an unnecessary burden to the LTB? And if the LTB is so burdened, why isn't it the LTB expanded to meet the demand? None of it makes sense because what's really at play here is setting up a public institution to fail because it insufficiently serves the interests of those parasitically profiting off other people's wages and basic need for shelter.

The pattern is pretty similar in healthcare and education and numerous other public institutions that are starved into failure, populated with wrecker-managers, and then reorganized (or contracted out) in the interests of profit-seeking sections of the business class.

Combined with a raft of new developer-demanded rules on housing (the end of municipal oversight in the development of new buildings of 12 or fewer units; the end of environmental protection and conservation), the renoviction blitzkrieg will only continue to throw thousands of people out of their homes while spoiling the environment - all for the profit and power of people who are driving this province to hell.

The landowning class won decisive battles in the 1990s and now we live in the aftermath of their class war victory. A new and restored publicly-financed co-operative and public housing program is decades overdue. The abolition of landlordism is centuries overdue."

[personal-blog243]

A message for U.S. conservatives about Covid:

If you believed that the “Wuhan red death China virus” was manufactured as a bio weapon to commit genocide and take over the world (or at least the U.S.); why wouldn’t you protect yourself from it? I know you also believe the vaccines were manufactured by the communist authoritarian red Chinese as a bio weapon too, but do you know how frustrating it is to be surrounded by people who have the facts so twisted that they refuse to care about millions of people dying? Ask yourself which U.S. political party are the real authoritarians; the ones who want you to protect yourself and others from the pandemic, or the ones who want you to work for the “economy” that you know damn well will never trickle down. You can’t work when you are sick or taking care of sick family members, so who’s trying to protect the “economy” here?

actual leftists don’t like big pharma, stop fucking accusing whoever you think “the left” is of that. NOBODY ever fucking said there weren’t conflicts of interest involved in the handling of this pandemic, but that’s not a reason to stop trying to protect yourself and others. I will never forget how easily this got politicized. Please consider the possibility that it is you who have been brainwashed.

I know we are basically out of the pandemic stage where I live (cases, deaths, hospitalizations, are all WAY WAY DOWN in my state thank GOD), but I just had to get this out of my system because if we don’t have closure and fully process what happened then it will happen again.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[gumjrop]

The Weather

In the US, 41 out of 54 states and territories are at high or very high COVID wastewater levels as of 1/18/2024. Ten states and territories have no data available. It’s important to note that levels of “moderate,” “low,” or “minimal” do not necessarily indicate a low risk of COVID exposure in our daily lives. Viral spread is still ongoing even if at lower levels, and precautions are warranted to protect ourselves and others.

Looking at the CDC’s national and regional wastewater data over time, we continue to see “Very High” levels nationally. It’s important to note that the last two weeks are provisional data, indicated by a gray shaded area on the graph, meaning that those values can change as additional wastewater sites report data. 

Although wastewater data does not provide the same level of detail as previous PCR-based testing data, wastewater monitoring is an important ongoing resource to inform us about the current COVID situation. While the provisional data tentatively shows a downward trend this week, time will tell whether this is a true decrease in the final data. A downward trend does not mean continued decreases are guaranteed or that protections should be relaxed. Multilayered protections help drive COVID spread lower, and relaxing protections can lead to a resurgence of viral spread.

Visit the CDC’s State and Territory Trends page to see available wastewater testing near you, including the number of wastewater sites reporting. Write your elected officials to let them know you want to keep and expand wastewater testing in your area and nationally.

Wins

In November 2023, the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) passed a series of draft proposals that will further weaken already insufficient protocols employed within healthcare settings. HICPAC refuses to reckon with the airborne nature of infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, and does not propose crucial measures such as universal masking with well-fitted respirators, isolation periods, and ventilation. The People’s CDC has penned a letter to the ACLU alerting them of HICPAC’s irresponsible decisions, and the ramifications associated with them. We hope that by working together with the ACLU, we can implement public advocacy and legal actions in order to tackle this critical issue.

You can read the full letter here.

Johns Hopkins reinstated healthcare masking on 1/12/2024, in response to high respiratory virus levels. As with many other healthcare systems and public health departments that have restored healthcare masking when facing public pressure, we hope that universal masking can become a standard of care rather than a short term response to a surge. See “Take Action” below for more information.

Variants

JN.1, now the most prominent variant in the United States, is estimated to account for 85.7% of circulating variants by 1/20/2024. HV.1 is expected to drop to 5.3%, and all other variants are estimated to make up less than 2% each. Although ongoing viral spread allows opportunities for new variants to emerge, the latest 2023-2024 COVID vaccine boosters, COVID tests, and COVID treatments are still expected to be effective for JN.1.

Current updated booster uptake is low (as of January 19, 2024, the CDC reports that only 21.5% of adults and 11% of children have received it). It is not too late to get the updated booster, and to protect yourself against the latest variant! 

Hospitalizations

In the most recent week (ending January 13, 2024), we see a slight downward trend in new hospital admissions, currently at 32,861. We see a similar slight downtick in currently hospitalized patients with COVID , at 27,879. This most recent week shows a slight decrease in hospitalizations, although it is too soon to say whether hospitalizations for the current surge have passed their peak. Hospitals continue to be overwhelmed. The data also lacks information on hospital-acquired infections. We urge you to continue taking stringent precautions, such as donning a well-fitting respirator (e.g., N95, KN95) in all indoor spaces–and especially in healthcare settings.

Long COVID

Amid ongoing advocacy by Long COVID groups, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a committee hearing on “Addressing Long COVID: Advancing Research and Improving Patient Care.” The hearing included testimony from three Long COVID patients and four Long COVID physicians and researchers, bringing much-needed attention to the urgent need for funding for Long COVID research and treatments, and to the need for improved access to care for Long COVID patients. We recognize the community care modeled by some of the panelists and attendees who wore masks for the hearing, and we wish the senators on the committee would mask up as well. 

Take Action

Write your elected officials to let them know that Long COVID impacts all of us, and that we need ongoing support for Long COVID research and clinical care. Ask Senators to support bill S.2560, the Long COVID Support Act. Ask Representatives to support bills HR.1114 (Long COVID RECOVERY NOW Act) and HR.3258 (TREAT Long COVID Act).

Although some healthcare settings have reinstated masking in response to high COVID levels along with high respiratory virus activity, ongoing pressure is needed to restore, keep, and expand masking broadly. Use our letter template and toolkit to call or write your elected officials in support of healthcare masking.

Want to do more to support healthcare masking? Consider starting, sharing, or joining a local campaign. Check out work in Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin, just to name a few. Also, sign and share our letter to the ACLU asking them to join us in supporting safe and equitable access to healthcare. Sign on is open until 2/1/2024. 

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Food banks and other programs serving vulnerable Canadians are expected to serve 60 per cent more people per month in 2023 than last year, according to a report by a national food rescue organization.

Second Harvest, a national service that rescues food that might otherwise end up in landfills and redistributes it to those in need, says its forecast follows a year that saw a 124 per cent increase in people using non-profit food services.

"What we found was even shocking for us. It's bad everywhere," said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. Nikkel says it isn't just the unemployed who are showing up at food banks to make ends meet. With food costs increasing due to inflation over the last few months, she says "a lot of people that are accessing food supports have jobs."

According to Second Harvest's figures, food banks and other food-related programs across Canada served 5,141,481 people per month last year. The organization expects that number to climb to 8,208,679 in 2023, a roughly 60 per cent increase. That's compared to 2,196,238 per month before the pandemic [...]

Experts say food scarcity is likely an even bigger problem than estimated because many in need are not showing up to use these services.

"The bottom line is that it's a stigmatized service…it's pretty much a sign of hitting bottom," said Elaine Power, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University who specializes in food insecurity. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[gregor-samsung]

“ The scope of her work, Reed told me, encompassed a range of infectious diseases that threaten gorilla health, of which Ebola is only the most exotic. The others were largely human diseases of more conventional flavor, to which gorillas are susceptible because of their close genetic similarity to us: TB, poliomyelitis, measles, pneumonia, chickenpox, et cetera. Gorillas can be exposed to such infections wherever unhealthy people are walking, coughing, sneezing, and crapping in the forest. Any such spillover in the reverse direction—from humans to a nonhuman species—is known as an anthroponosis. The famous mountain gorillas, for instance, have been threatened by anthroponotic infections such as measles, carried by ecotourists who come to dote upon them. (Mountain gorillas constitute a severely endangered subspecies of the eastern gorilla, confined to the steep hillsides of the Virunga Volcanoes in Rwanda and neighboring lands. The western gorilla of Central African forests, a purely lowland species, is more numerous but far from secure.) Combined with destruction of their habitat by logging operations, and the hunting of them for bushmeat to be consumed locally or sold into markets, infectious diseases could push western gorillas from their current levels of relative abundance (maybe a hundred thousand in total) to a situation in which small, isolated populations survive tenuously, like the mountain gorillas, or go locally extinct. But the forests of Central Africa are still relatively vast, compared to the small Virunga hillsides that harbor mountain gorillas; and the western gorilla doesn’t face many ecotourists in its uncomfortable, nearly impenetrable home terrain. So measles and TB aren’t the worst of its problems. “I would say that, without a doubt, Ebola is the biggest threat” to the western species, Reed said. What makes Ebola virus among gorillas so difficult, she explained, is not just its ferocity but also the lack of data. “We don’t know if it was here before. We don’t know if they survive it. But we need to know how it passes through groups. We need to know where it is.” And the question of where has two dimensions. How broadly is Ebola virus distributed across Central Africa? Within what reservoir species does it lurk? “

David Quammen, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic; W. W. Norton, 2012 [ eBook ]