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[Loud Whispers]

Grey goo turning itself into humans is also pretty amusing.

[Wolfhunter107]

Indeed it is.

[GavJ]

It operates by trying to turn you into it.

To be fair, that's all viruses.

Nope. That's lytic cycle viruses. There are also lysogenic cycle viruses, which operating by turning themselves into you. Specifically, integrating themselves with your DNA and just getting copied with the rest of... well, you. They can change from one to the other depending on circumstances and virus type.

Still sounds like turning me into it. Just on a limited rollout schedule, that's all. 

[Wolfhunter107]

Oh boy...

[Loud Whispers]

Liberia has been lost! Batten down the hatches and secure your loved ones!

Good luck Liberia

[GavJ]

Sounds like the solutions are pretty obvious, they just need money =/

[scrdest]

It operates by trying to turn you into it.

To be fair, that's all viruses.

Nope. That's lytic cycle viruses. There are also lysogenic cycle viruses, which operating by turning themselves into you. Specifically, integrating themselves with your DNA and just getting copied with the rest of... well, you. They can change from one to the other depending on circumstances and virus type.

Still sounds like turning me into it. Just on a limited rollout schedule, that's all. 

Nope. It strings along for the ride normally, turning you into it only happens if something gets fucked up. Or never, in the case of retrotransposons which are viruses who, outside of deciding this particular gig within DNA sucks and it's time to move, and while slamming the door open maaaaybe damaging the hinges, are pretty much bummin' in your genes forever.

[Morrigi]

Remind me why we're still allowing public flights in and out of West Africa?

[gigaraptor487]

Remind me why we're still allowing public flights in and out of West Africa?

Same reason we still do flights to places that have endemic malaria and TB. The threat isn't seen as significant enough to stop air travel.

[GavJ]

Remind me why we're still allowing public flights in and out of West Africa?

Trade with west africa equals lots of $$$. And with zero deaths or cases here and much greater ability to swiftly contain, it is not very dangerous.

[Morrigi]

Remind me why we're still allowing public flights in and out of West Africa?

Trade with west africa equals lots of $$$. And with zero deaths or cases here and much greater ability to swiftly contain, it is not very dangerous.

Remind me why we're still allowing public flights in and out of West Africa?

Same reason we still do flights to places that have endemic malaria and TB. The threat isn't seen as significant enough to stop air travel.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Frumple]

That's... cute. 4k cases in about six months? Or is that per month, which... hell, headache, screw numbers, say 20k at the most. With around half that in deaths. Bit more.

You're aware that malaria alone killed somewhere in the range of half a million in 2012? The vast majority of it in africa*. Planes kept going. Sub 10k is hilarious penny-ante stuff, apparently.

*E: Though, admittedly, "only" like 150k were over the age of 5, using the low end numbers.

[darkflagrance]

That's... cute. 4k cases in about six months? Or is that per month, which... hell, headache, screw numbers, say 20k at the most. With around half that in deaths. Bit more.

You're aware that malaria alone killed somewhere in the range of half a million in 2012? The vast majority of it in africa*. Planes kept going. Sub 10k is hilarious penny-ante stuff, apparently.

*E: Though, admittedly, "only" like 150k were over the age of 5, using the low end numbers.

I think it's the exponential curve that has people worried. After all, this strain is just getting off the ground and spreading itself through new populations. We don't know when the curve will level out. Furthermore, the reported cases are only a fraction of the actual amount. A plague that wipes out a significant percentage of the adult population could start out with an infection rate similar to this.

[Frumple]

Oh aye. Point I was making is that if the active deaths of literally hundreds of thousands of people isn't stopping air traffic, the active deaths of a few thousand with the potential for more (especially if, as noted, that potential is easily curtailed in more developed nations) almost certainly isn't.

[darkflagrance]

Oh aye. Point I was making is that if the active deaths of literally hundreds of thousands of people isn't stopping air traffic, the active deaths of a few thousand with the potential for more (especially if, as noted, that potential is easily curtailed in more developed nations) almost certainly isn't.

Another factor might be that ebola is a relatively unknown disease compared to TB/Malaria, and scientists fear it might rapidly mutate to some more contagious form. Therefore these unknowns make ebola riskier in terms of containment compared to TB/Malaria.

Plus, malaria is transmitted by bugs that don't fly on planes, and TB has a well-known vaccine.