Sierra Leone: "Let Ebola Run Its Course. Good Luck!"

International health officials have admitted defeat. There is nothing more they can do. From now on, the disease will run its course.

The decision signifies a significant shift in the struggle against the rampaging disease. Officials said they would begin distributing painkillers, rehydrating solution and gloves to hundreds of Ebola-afflicted households in Sierra Leone, contending that the aid arriving here was not fast or extensive enough to keep up with an outbreak that doubles in size every month or so.

“It’s basically admitting defeat,” said Dr. Peter H. Kilmarx, the leader of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s team in Sierra Leone, adding that it was “now national policy that we should take care of these people at home.”

This is bad news for residents of Sierra Leone.

This will be a national laboratory to see how far this course is. But will the government report the deaths? How will the government collect these statistics?

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