Thirty

Thirty--that's the total number of Ebola cases in the three affected countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, the latter country having been Ebola-free for months, with its first reported case on June 29th from some still entirely unknown means of transmission (the "dog hypothesis" I think is finally losing some steam since its remains tested negative, for which the dog population in Liberia is breathing one major sigh of relief).

Thirty cases--that's up from twenty last week. Hard to know, given an outbreak that is now longer than 18 months in duration, longer by far than anything previously known, whether that 20 to 30 is an uptick or just represents random statistical fluctuations at the end of the outbreak's tail. But given that the number has gone up and not down, and that we now have Liberia back in the mix (with cases not too far from where I sit typing this right now), it certainly isn't cause for celebration.

Thirty cases--a number of cases that hardly anyone except the hard-core international health junkies are paying much attention to these days. As this MSF doc laments, the news cycle moves on.

But thirty cases of Ebola is still an international emergency. Before January of 2014, the announcement of 30 cases of this disease would have dominated world headlines. This is especially true for a region the size of the current outbreak; thirty cases in a village would have gotten the world's attention only a few years ago. Now this news has to fight for coverage.

But make no mistake, as long as these cases simmer, it remains everyone's business.
--Billy