THIS ISN’T GOOD: Four New Cases of Ebola In Nigeria Are Related To Infected American Who Died There. It would be worse if they weren’t. If Ebola gets loose in Lagos, it’ll be ghastly. Even if not all that many people die from that, if it sparks a major panic many more will die from the breakdown of services, which aren’t especially great even in normal times. I have family there and, as you might imagine, they’re quite concerned.

UPDATE: Disturbing thoughts from Richard Fernandez. “Perhaps Ebola will stay in Africa. But one shouldn’t count on it. Readers will recall reports Libyan hospital systems are collapsing as expatriate health workers, who make up 80% of medical personnel, evacuate. The hospital systems in Syria and Iraq are probably highly degraded by now. Two days ago, a Saudi businessman died after returning from West Africa, after exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms, but the diagnosis has not been confirmed. The wars of the region have created an extraordinary fertile ground for epidemic. If Ebola should get to Mecca then we will rediscover the truism that no man is an island, especially not in our globalized world.”