[Jim Noble]

Well, this is a perfect Dark Winter scenario, except that we don't know nearly as much about EHF transmission as we do about smallpox.

Dark Winter was illuminating in many ways, but its most important finding is that the politicians were always 48-72 hours late with critical containment decisions.

EHF outbreaks have always burned out, because the virus kills the host too fast. However, there has never been an EHF outbreak in a typical West African "city" (really better described as a dump for human beings).

There's a lot we don't know, and the mortality in Western ICUs will undoubtedly be lower (if they can be staffed), but this has the potential to turn into a very big problem very fast.

[MaxMax]

This must be spreading through sexual contact, it's moving to fast. And if it's not
airborn then 30k is an extremely high estimate. The only type of person capable of
moving Ebola this fast are Homosexuals. All Homosexuals are like jackrabbits in a
cottontail whorehouse during the summer.

[jjsheridan5]

EHF outbreaks have always burned out, because the virus kills the host too fast.

Not to nitpick, but this is only part of the reason that it has never gone beyond "local". It also has difficulty establishing itself because transmissibility is low until the victim is clearly displaying symptoms, and is relatively immobile. If the Reuters story is true, and an entire cab picked it up from one person, then this may no longer be true.