Now 73 Cases, And 27 Dead, In DRC Ebola Outbreak '25; Co-infections Also Are A Daunting Challenge -- As Is The Remoteness Of The Hotspots, By Road-Routes...

Once again, it may well turn out, when historians look back on this time -- some decades from now -- that Trump's most indelible legacy with be the hundreds of thousands of humans globally who've died largely needlessly, from diseases we know how to arrest -- but for which he simply refused to spend the money, to abate. Damn him.

With USAID still sidelined, almost all these excess deaths are the direct result of his fecklessness. Here's the latest situation report on DRC Ebola '25 -- in the Bulape, Mweka, Mushenge, Kanzala and Tshikapa health districts -- and a bit:

. . .As of the 14 September reporting cycle, 30 cases have been confirmed and 27 deaths have been reported, including four health workers. There are 43 suspected cases across four districts including Bulape, Mweka, Mushenge and Kanzala, and contacts have been traced to Tshikapa, reflecting ongoing investigations and data consolidation.

Operational constraints are significant. Road access from Kinshasa can take up to three days and the nearest isolation unit has roughly 15 beds, well below current needs. Surveillance, contact tracing and Safe and Dignified Burials (SDB) must scale up quickly as well to interrupt transmission chains. Currently, 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine are pre-positioned in Kinshasa for ring vaccination of contacts and frontline workers. . . .

There are concurrent outbreaks of cholera and mpox, and chronic vulnerabilities, such as limited Infection Prevention & Control (IPC)/Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities, as well as mistrust among the community. Traditional funerary practices also elevate risk of spread, particularly around Bulape and Mweka, and along movement corridors toward Tshikapa. . . .

Onward, now for meetings (about the people allegedly without papers grabbed by ICE in Pilsen and West Town yesterday) -- off, into the steel and glass canyons, on an otherwise perfectly sunny morning, for a bit. . . sad smile.

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