There is no cure and no vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo variant of Ebola, which has caused two outbreaks in recent decades. Health leaders and scientists are now racing to understand where the virus is spreading and attempting to stop it – but the US is notably absent in these efforts.

In the past year, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been dismantled, thousands of staff at US health agencies were laid off, communications stalled and key scientific research canceled.

There are 482 suspected cases and about 116 deaths reported since April in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with two cases and one death in Uganda and potential spread to neighboring South Sudan. The outbreak “might have been going on for a few months”, said Kristian Andersen, a professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research.

If the world ends it will be with a bang, but the bang will certainly only be the final confirmation of something that had started without anyone seeming to notice.

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[–] 4 points 5 months ago

It's weird how every time Shitler gets elected, there's some kind of plague outbreak.

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  • 33 comments in c/world@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 101 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

    If it's outside USA, The US administration doesn't give a shit.
    If it's a democratic state in USA, The US administration doesn't give a shit.
    If it's in a republican state in USA, The US administration doesn't give a shit.

    The US administration doesn't give a shit, unless they can make money on it.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    Just think of the ad revenue possibilities

    Ebola Ice Cream™ new flavor Pink Mist now available.

    Eat Ebola Ice Cream™

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago

    Embrace capitalism! Find some random livestock drug and convince Facebook users it’s the snake oil woke lib science doesn’t want you to know about. Profit, retire, spend your remaining time volunteering for good causes. Sieze the means of grift, comrade. 😘

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  • [–] 46 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Maga is all about soft eugenics. Let the weak die off. They are not ignoring it, they want it to happen, they want it to spread. RFK's actions may be insane, but they do have a goal, mass die off the "weak".

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/04/maga-soft-eugenics
    https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article306387376.html

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    [–] 19 points 5 months ago

    Everytime republicans handle a health crisis, it’s the same damn thing.

    GOP: “leave it, it will only kill off people we dislike.”

    Disease: -totally ignores politics and spreads everywhere-

    GOP: “how were we supposed to know?!”

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  • [–] 13 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Natural immunity in response to ebola would not be a choice i would predict people making in this country, but they're doing it with measeles, so fuck me I guess.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Come on he needs the distraction, covid did the heavy lifting first term and this term it's been really hard pretending to care

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  • [+] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    If the "hottest" country in the world right now can't help, who can?

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  • [–] -3 points 5 months ago (10 children)

    Fingers crossed it spreads to the US!

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  • [–] 20 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    The insane part is that it won't change much. They will still do nothing, except recommending bleach, or somehow put light into your body, and whatever madness they can think of, that cost the government rich nothing.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago* (4 children)

    If you're rooting for the spread of disease, you might want to reconsider whether you're the good guy here.

    https://youtu.be/ToKcmnrE5oY

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    I never said I was a good guy.

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  • [–] -5 points 5 months ago (8 children)

    While I think it's stupid that the US isn't helping, it does prove the point of their right wing: The rest of the world expects America to be in charge of fixing everything

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  • [–] 23 points 5 months ago

    Things like this fall under the category of soft power, and the current crop of Republican leadership don’t understand that. Doing good deeds like this around the world ultimately come back to propping up the US economy, and keeping the lines pointing up. The current leadership doesn’t understand the need for this. They believe “American Exceptionalism” is self-perpetuating. They also see all that money going to “shithole countries” instead of theirs and their buddies’ pockets as a Very Bad Thing. Lines going up doesn’t matter unless they get their taste, and they’re too stupid to think of smarter methods of corruption.

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  • [–] 20 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    It is not so much that they expect us to be in charge, as it is that we were in charge, then suddenly pulled out without any warning or planning.

    Other countries are trying, but the US simply erased the core of the global health system which took decades to build.

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  • [–] 23 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    We kind of chose to be in charge, so we could fix problems. Abandoning the job you volunteered for halfway thru your shift without telling anyone does prove a point... That Republicans are irresponsible, dickless, assholes.

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  • [–] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah, but you have other nations claiming to have the rights for some international leadership who aren't doing anything either. Why aren't China or the EU stepping in to help?

    It is horrible that the USA isn't helping, but a lot of other nations also aren't helping.

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  • [–] 0 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    I can't speak to Europe, but for China, this throws a spotlight on the lack of US effectiveness and leadership and erodes our soft power. Which is a free method for them to gain soft power. Europe IS having their own increase in isolationism which is likely why they're not moving on the world stage.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    When the US goes in, for example, to Venezuela, kidnaps its president and turns the country into an oil colony, do you expect the US can also chip in with a box of gloves to an African country to help control an outbreak so we all don't die bleeding from our eyes.

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