Armand Sprecher

We can set up our, I mean, we've managed outbreaks before without treatments and vaccines.

It's just much more difficult.

And we're going to have to kind of go old school on this.

Well, you control an outbreak.

By interrupting transmission and transmission is largely in care of the sick and burial of the dead.

And these are two things that people do that have a significant cultural and emotional content.

So you can't go in there and simply say, stop doing that.

It's very important for them to care for their loved ones.

It's very important for them to show proper respect for the dead.

And so you have to earn their trust to modify those behaviors, to get them to understand and accept that that's what they're going to have to do if they want to bring the outbreak to a close.

And in an area where you have conflict like this, when you bring in outsiders, in an environment where people have learned not to trust outsiders because this is a war zone, outsiders rarely mean them good.

It's a difficult situation to earn these people's trust in order to control the outbreak.

And so the lesson is get out into the community.

I mean, we have to set up the treatment units and care for the sick, but we also have to get into the community and talk with people.

And they're not going to listen until they have their questions answered.

So you have to answer their questions about the disease.

And then you can work with them about how you can collectively with the community interrupt transmission that'll help bring the outbreak to a close.

Well, it'll probably be, you know, it's a guess, right?

Because as I said, we don't have the diagnostics yet.

The trick there is, well, some of those cases will be people who have other diseases, but you're also going to be missing some of the people that have Bundy Boogie virus infection.