The damage is real. After the COVID years, many patients refuse routine immunizations. Parents who once followed public health guidance now say never again. That reaction is not irrational. It was produced by overreach, by messaging that claimed absolute answers, and by institutions that put expedience above nuance. When liability rules and funding steer manufacturers to population-level products, incentives tilt toward perennial vaccines. That’s the topic on our minds today as Dr. Randall Bock joins us on this edition of America Out Loud PULSE.
A rare Ebola strain is spreading with no vaccine. Here’s what you need to know.
The number of Ebola cases has been growing – and growing by a lot — each day since the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency on Saturday. The latest toll? More than 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected-Ebola deaths.
The vast majority of the cases are in a province in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo — a remote place struggling after decades of bloody conflict. There are also two cases in Uganda’s capital. The World Health Organization has identified the strain of Ebola as a rare one and says the outbreak could have started months before it was detected.
“This is an example of a perfect storm,” says Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician and faculty at Stanford University.
Where and how do Ebola outbreaks start? Geographically, this is easy to answer: Ebola outbreaks have almost always started in either east and west Africa. By far, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has detected the most outbreaks. This is its 17th since 1976.
Exactly how humans pick up the virus remains a question mark. “We don’t know for sure where it comes from but we have suspicions,” says Karan, whose team has been studying Ebola and related viruses in Kenya for several years. The leading guess, he says, is that people get Ebola from eating bat meat or being exposed to bat guano – or excrement. This could happen when miners go into caves.
What tends to happen is that one person gets it from an animal — which is called a spillover — and then that individual spreads it to other people.
“In many Hollywood movies, you may see Ebola portrayed as bleeding out of the eyes. I have to tell you, after seeing hundreds of Ebola patients, I have yet to see that,” says Bhadelia. Instead, she says, there are “massive amounts of diarrhea and vomiting” that’s often bloody. Many patients die from the body going into shock and organs shutting down, “driven by the immune system of the patient revving up in response to the virus.”
She points out that the likelihood of survival depends on how quickly the patient gets medical care as well as the quality of that care, which can include supportive care or even monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are artificially produced antibodies that mimic the body’s natural antibodies and help stop the virus.
“In West Africa, we had a mortality between 50 to 70%,” she says. By comparison, Americans infected there and brought back to the U.S. for care saw mortality rates of less than 20%. “This really shows the difference in terms of good medical care as well as targeted therapeutics.” (NPR)
Dr. Randall Bock is a physician, writer, and investigative journalist known for his rigorous critiques of health policy and commitment to medical freedom. With over 30 years in primary care, now specializing in men’s health at Regeneris Boston, Dr. Bock brings a unique perspective to public health debates, emphasizing patient autonomy and the right to truthful medical discourse. His view on narcotic addiction—as a response to life trauma rather than a disease—led to a temporary suspension of his medical license, which he successfully overturned, defending his right to medical free speech and advocating for tapering-to-sobriety over “maintenance” programs.
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