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Good morning. You may have noticed a missing link in yesterday’s issue. You can read Sarah Todd’s great story on ultra-processed food research and policy here.
Ebola update: Case numbers, pushback
A potpourri of Ebola news: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is making its way through samples of hundreds of suspected Ebola cases, and as it does, the size of the outbreak has shrunk dramatically. As of Wednesday, the country reported 363 confirmed cases. In a WHO press conference, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gheybreyesus said there were now 116 suspected cases, which, if confirmed, would bring the outbreak total to just under 500 — less than half the size it was thought to be late last week. But Craig Spencer, Ebola survivor and Brown University public health professor, told STAT he’s hearing from people on the ground that there could still be a lot of undetected cases.
The union representing CDC employees, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, is publicly objecting to the Trump administration’s plan to force Americans who’ve been exposed to Ebola to quarantine in Kenya. But Gheybreyesus demurred when asked his thoughts about the U.S. plan, saying, “They can do whatever they think is right for them.” He also expressed appreciation for the U.S.’s “strong commitment” to the efforts to contain the outbreak. — Helen Branswell
