The Doctors and Nurses Who Risk Everything to Fight Ebola in West Africa

Craig Kenzie, Junko Otaki, and Luca Zaliani are among the 57 international health care workers assisting with Ebola treatment at a Médecins Sans Frontières facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone. 

"Doctors And Nurses Who Risk Everything To Fight Ebola In West Africa"

National Geographic

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/08/140829-ebola-caregivers-doctors-nurses-west-africa-sierra-leone/

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Alan: Sadly, I cannot find an NPR Ebola report describing a recent groundswell of opinion in Liberia where citizens want to fire all hospital staff who have had the disease and recovered. 

One of the vermiform horrors roiling the carcass of modern "conservatism" is its evangelical fondness for "common sense," even though scientific knowledge routinely contradicts "common sense." 

"The Death of Epistemology"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-polls-skewed-death-of-epistemology.html

"Einstein On Common Sense"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/10/einstein-on-common-sense.html

As soon as peer-reviewed knowledge replaces fulminating opinion, uninformed blather is revealed for what it is: clear and present danger to political health and social well-being. 

In Liberia, a "common sense" assumption holds that hospital personnel who have suffered the disease - and subsequently recovered - are "sleeper cells" in whom Ebola is only lying dormant. 

In fact, nurses and doctors who have survived Ebola CAN NOT contract the disease again which makes them the very best caregivers for Ebola patients since they can treat them fearlessly, even taking risks if necessary. 

Since recovered doctors and nurses are immune to Ebola, contagion is impossible, which, by definition, means there is NO risk of infecting others and no possibility of contributing to a contagious cascade.

In theory, recovered healthcare workers can even provide "immune serum," by far the most effective treatment for the disease. 

Clearly, there is a great deal to be said for "common sense." 

But people who tout "common sense" have a moral obligation to "innoculate themselves against ignorance and stupidity" by quaffing the antidote of scientific knowledge. 

Similarly, societies and polities have an obligation to propagate scientific knowledge. 

Absent science, fear fills the void.

And when fear "takes the wheel" so-called "common sense" becomes quick justification for prejudice, oppression and, not infrequently, violence. 

"Armed Men Attack Liberia Ebola Clinic; "Free" Patients, Steal Infected Bedding"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/armed-men-attack-liberia-ebola-clinic.html

"Rural Guineans Kill 8 Ebola Aid Workers, Stuff Bodies In Village Latrine"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/guinean-civilians-kill-8-ebola-aid.html

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Afterthought: Although there are many admirable Christians (and other religiously committed people) who undertake the noble work of treating Ebola patients, Doctors Without Borders is a notably secular institution.

"Doctors Without Borders Works To Contain The Spread Of Ebola"
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/09/354754651/doctors-without-borders-works-to-contain-spread-of-ebola?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world

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"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/conservatives-scare-more-easily-than.html

"Shark Attacks Rise Worldwide: Risk Assessment and Aquinas' Criteria For Sin"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/02/shark-attacks-rise-worldwide-risk.html

"Theological Implications Of Ebola: Praying For A Cure? Creating A Scientific Cure?"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/theological-implications-of-ebola.html

"John Ford, John Wayne, Aquinas and Theosis (Christian Divinization)"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/12/more-on-theosis.html