Ebola Spreads the Scent of Gunpowder

The commotion of combat. The U.N. has seized the matter. The European Union ministers of health will hold an extraordinary meeting next Thursday. The United States did not wait a moment before starting military intervention in Liberia. There is even question of creating a “medical” NATO. France has instituted health checks at its airports. The entire West is preparing itself to go to war against — the Ebola virus. This is not, unfortunately, in a figurative sense. Military interventions in both African and Western countries affected by the epidemic, similar to those of the United States in Liberia, are being prepared. The World Health Organization has announced that the virus has caused more than 4,000 deaths, and also warns that the fatality rate from the virus could reach 90 percent. It declares that there are five species of Ebola; the one that is rampant in West Africa is the “Zaire” species. The first “producers” of the virus would be bats, which contaminated humans. Since then, it has been transmitted from person to person. The fact is, the virus did not appear yesterday. It first appeared in 1976, causing nearly 500 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Sudan. Then there was something of a lull until 1995 when it re-emerged suddenly in the DRC, bringing about the deaths of more than 250 people. Another lull, and then resurgence, this time in Uganda, where it infected more than 400 people and killed half of them. This was in 2000. It flared up again in 2003 in the Congo with 128 deaths. A “remission” of four years, then it returned in 2007 in the DRC and Uganda—more than 200 deaths. It “rests” for seven years and returns, this time to West Africa, where it is currently raging with over 4,000 deaths on the meter. A transition difficult to explain scientifically; a transition that suggests overlooked “sorties.” The last being the most fatal.

More than 38 years after its first appearance, no treatment or vaccine has successfully been developed. The world only recently became aware of the existence of experimental treatments in the West, which has made it permissible to use some specimens in specific cases. Another distinctive feature of the 2014 version of the Ebola virus is that Western countries, and not the least among them like the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany, have some cases on their soil. Very few. One or two cases. But that has been enough to heighten people’s attention—and above all to justify “aid.” Humanitarian. Financial. And even — military. Which evokes a “medical” NATO. Using a more nuanced phrase, the European Union speaks of “a mechanism of strategic air transport” to evacuate health workers in humanitarian organizations. More bad omens. The exaggerated media coverage of “strikes” by pallbearers who demand to be paid — otherwise they will stop burying victims of the virus. A victim of the virus who “escapes” from a containment area to spread panic in the streets. Not to mention entire towns where the population is forbidden to go out for several days. So many ingredients that effectively necessitate forces of intervention to ensure order. And to close this blackboard, WHO announces, almost under its breath, that a range of treatments as well as two “potential” vaccines are in the phase of human “safety” testing. By whom, and where? WHO doesn’t say. On the other hand, Russia announced last Monday through the deputy prime minister, Olga Golodets, that scientists are “about to finish work on the vaccine.” Beyond that, Russia is going to send an antiviral medicine, which was effectively used against “a cousin” of Ebola, to West Africa. This voice of hope is not passed on by the Western media. Or by WHO. Why? Would this hamper the military preparations? No other argument is being put forward!