This month’s Vanity Fair (has Robert Downey Jr on cover) has an article about Ebola which shows it’s a lack of communication from the government/medical services to the folks in the rural area. Before info about Ebola was fully distributed in the rural areas, where many are illiterate, these strange people, most with white complexions, show up in full protective gear, gather people into tents where no one can communicate with their families, and then cremate the bodies which is against traditions.
As a result, wild rumors started that these white people were performing experiments, harvesting organs and limbs and were killing native people. People stopped going to treatment centers, choosing to hide at home and to lie about how their relatives died.
I think it’s tragic that this lack of communication, in the rush to help people, is compounding the severity of the epidemic.