RichardPreston

They haven't been able to fully protect themselves, doctors and nurses are dying. They're wearing full protection biohazard suits, but the Ebola wards are just horrifying, 30 Ebola patients with one doctor and one nurse, both in space suits. Conditions are awful in those wards, we need more doctors and nurses - not even a space suit can totally protect you if the ward is really a mess.

Not entirely justified. This is a kind of war with a non-human enemy. It is a fairly clever and very aggressive enemy. However, if you are in a jam it is never a good idea to panic. That's how you lose. The doctors in Africa definitely are not panicking, they are just working 20 hours a day in the fight. And we sure don't have to panic in the US, we've got a strong medical care system.

Tell your mother that a) our medical care system can definitely handle Ebola patients if any do crop up in the US and b) it's hard to catch Ebola unless you are taking care of a person who is really sick with it, and the hospitals would be doing that anyway. What the heck, if I step out into the street at the wrong time a bus could kill me, but we can't live in a state of fear about everything that could kill us.

It can be sexually transmitted. That is probably not the main mode of transmission, given the fact that if have Ebola you probably aren't in a loving mood...

good q's - the antibody serum ZMAPP seems to be amazingly effective but we don't know because it's only been tried on the two patients. As for aftereffects, i interviewed Dr. Shem Musoke who nearly died of Marburg (close cousin of Ebola) and he told me it took him about a year to recover fully but now he was fine. It's a crushing disease but if you survive you do recover.