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At least 4,877 people have died in the world's worst recorded outbreak of Ebola, and at least 9,936 cases of the disease had been recorded as of Oct. 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, but the true toll may be three times as much. The WHO has said real numbers of cases are believed to be much higher than reported: by a factor of 1.5 in Guinea, 2 in Sierra Leone and 2.5 in Liberia, while the death rate is thought to be about 70 percent of all cases. That would suggest a toll of almost 15,000.

I have spent a little time compiling links to threads about the Ebola outbreak in the interest of having all the links in one thread for future reference. Please add links to new threads and articles of interest as the situation develops. Thank You all for you participation.

The empirical evidence of an airborne Ebola Strain is overwhelming Hat Tip GWP - Patrick Sawyer was the American businessman, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, then collapsed after he got off a plane to Nigeria and died July 25. He was the first patient in Nigeria with the Ebola virus. The Nigerian authorities have refused to release the names of other passengers on the plane with Mr. Sawyer, or notify the media of their status.

U.S. Army warns of potential 'airborne' Ebola Virus could be transmitted by means other than contact NEW YORK – While Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization officials continue to insist Ebola cannot be transmitted by air from one person to another, an Army manual clearly warns the virus could be an airborne threat in certain circumstances. The handbook published by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, USAMRID, titled “USAMRID’s Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook,” is now in its seventh edition. The most recent edition was published in 2011, with more than 100,000 copies distributed...

Kevin LoriaOctober 6, 2014 The idea that Ebola could go airborne is terrifying. Once you are infected, few diseases are more likely to kill you — and death by hemorrhagic fever, diarrhea and vomiting often accompanied by bleeding and organ failure, sounds particularly awful. At present it's hard to get infected — healthcare workers and family members caring for victims are at highest risk — but that would change if the virus were to mutate so that it could be transmitted through the air while keeping its present lethality. That's a nightmare scenario. But it's more the stuff of bad...

Bloomberg - link and title only.

<p>Muslim burial practices are being blamed for the spread of Ebola.</p> <p>Remains of Secretary General of The Nigeria Supreme General for Islamic Affairs and Seriki of Egbaland, Alhaji Lateeef Adegbite at his burial in 2012.</p> <p>Islam requires family members to personally wash the corpses of loved ones from head to toe. This practise is putting more Africans at risk to catch the disease that is spread by body fluids.</p>

A patient who was transported to Emory University Hospital on Sept. 9 with Ebola virus disease was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 19, 2014. In coordination with the CDC and Georgia Department of Public Health, the patient was determined to be free of virus and to pose no public health threat. The patient has asked to remain anonymous and left the hospital for an undisclosed location. He will make a statement at a later date.

An American doctor infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone last month has gone quietly home after spending six weeks at Emory University’s special biocontainment unit, the hospital said Monday. The doctor, who has asked not to be named for now, was working for the World Health Organization when he was infected. His treatment and recovery hasn’t been covered wall to wall like the other Ebola patients, who include medical missionaries Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, both treated at Emory, and Dr. Rick Sacra and NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, both treated at Nebraska Medical Center. Emory’s also treating Dallas nurse...

Nina Pham, one of the two nurses who contracted Ebola in Dallas, is expected to be moved to a National Institutes of Health isolation unit in Bethesda, Maryland, a federal official with direct knowledge of the plans told NBC News on Thursday. The transfer could happen later Thursday, but the official cautioned that plans were evolving. Pham, 26, was diagnosed with the virus on Sunday after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted Ebola in Liberia, flew to Dallas and later died. The other nurse who contracted Ebola in Dallas, Amber Vinson, was flown on Wednesday to Emory University Hospital in...

Twitter feed at link.

A second Dallas-based nurse who was recently diagnosed with Ebola after treating a man who later died of the virus has arrived in Atlanta for treatment. Helicopter footage from local television stations showed 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson leaving a jet and being helped into an ambulance Wednesday night. A police motorcade escorted the ambulance as it traveled to Emory University Hospital, which has already treated three Americans diagnosed with the virus.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with Ebola experts from Emory as part of his Sept. 16 visit to Atlanta. The president will visit the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for an update on the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa and the U.S. response to it. During Tuesday’s visit, Obama will meet with Emory University Hospital physicians as well as other healthcare workers involved with the treatment of Ebola patients here. “Just when we thought our time in the spotlight had reached a crescendo, we are now being acknowledged with a special visit by President Barack...

Dr. Kent Brantly, the Samaritan’s Purse doctor who contracted Ebola while caring for patients in Liberia, will be released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta today after completing his recovery from the deadly virus.

(1918 Bolshevik Poster by Alexander Apsit reads "Citizens, hand over your weapons!") Why I gave up my guns • A former firearm enthusiast explains his personal epiphany Late one night in the spring of 2008, I was jolted awake by the sound of yet another a burglar trying to break into my Atlanta home. We’d already had a series of scary close calls, but this time I was ready: I had staged my shotgun and a box of shells in a broom closet right by the back door, next to the umbrellas. While my girlfriend called the police, I...

Even given the longstanding urge of academics to treat Democratic presidents the way the Catholic Church once treated saints, the academic Left may have been a bit hasty when it rushed to canonize the current occupant of the White House. “When I still taught there, I’d walk past classrooms at Georgia Perimeter College and hear Obama’s speeches played for students,” Mary Grabar remembers. “Professors took entire classes to watch his inauguration in the assembly hall.” “They had Obama-Biden campaign material tacked up on the doors of their offices.” Grabar currently teaches at Emory. “For fall semester 2012, freshmen at Emory...

Last week, Emory University admitted that it had a longstanding practice of lying about the quality of its student body. Top school officials intentionally overstated the SAT scores and academic achievements of incoming students. The obvious purpose for this fraud is to influence Emory's ranking among other top schools, which in turn yields increased revenues for the university. Other schools such as Villanova, University of Illinois, and Claremont McKenna have been caught in similar deceptions. The Old Time Media has largely played down these frauds, sometimes praising the fraudsters for coming clean. So, is this a serious issue? Is there...

A letter signed by about 500 Emory University faculty, students and alumni seeks to bring attention to the anti-evolution views of Dr. Ben Carson. The world-renowned Johns Hopkins University neurosurgeon will be the Atlanta university's May 14 commencement speaker. The letter does not ask that Carson be dis-invited. Rather, it seeks to bring attention to the issue. It notes Carson's accomplishments as a neurosurgeon and philanthropist, then adds, "But, as those students, their families, and the Emory Community listen to his speech, we ask you to also consider the enormous positive impact of science on our lives and how that...

It seems as if the Democrats are about to reclaim their title as “the party of no.” That might come as a shock to many Democratic apologists, but as the center-left loses control of the national debate, it is finding itself reacting to an agenda not set by its majorities in government but by the vocal right-leaning opposition. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with saying “no.” It’s a good thing that liberals have consistently opposed anti-Muslim attempts to move the proposed Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan, decried the unnecessarily blunt — and unconstitutional — tool of the Arizona...

Imagine if a school principal insisted year after year that their school use textbooks made only by one company. even though there were plenty of textbook companies out there. Imagine that this principal defended this company's textbooks and made public statements about how valuable they were in the classroom. Imagine if it is later revealed after more than a decade that while the principal was demanding that this company's textbooks be used at their school the company was paying the principal money to give speeches, advertise for them, and promote their product. Furthermore, it's revealed that the principal didn't even...