The Ebola virus did not cause the epidemic that is spreading from Africa to Europe and the United States and most likely, soon, beyond. For the last 40 years, the political leadership of the planet, and the people who elected them, maintained a policy that thoroughly degraded the continent of Africa, creating the conditions for this kind of epidemic to occur. In this interview, Dr. Debra Freeman discusses the crisis in thinking that has lead to the spread of Ebola and what is required in the short and long term if we expect contain the virus and avert what is quickly becoming something rivaling the 14th century Black Death. Leading U.S. Public Health Expert Declares Complete Failure of Present U.S. Measures Against Ebola–Calls for International Mobilization to Avoid Catastrophe. Infectious Disease Research and Policy and a leading expert on bio terrorism provided a stark warning and analysis yesterday concerning the failure to contain the Ebola epidemic. In remarks at John Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health, Dr. Osterholm emphasized: (1). The disease is spreading on virus time rather than on political or bureaucratic time and the virus has the complete upper hand. The result will be mass death. Traditional public health measures are a complete failure in the areas of Africa where it is now spreading and where there are no viable public health systems which can contain the disease. more at url