Well, NPR is an American organization, so it's not really surprising that they're writing it with an eye towards their primary demographic (Americans, and to a lesser extent, Europeans) .

> Are other African countries somehow doomed?

It would certainly be interesting to look at the likelihood of propagation in Africa, and hopefully someone does that. But I'd be surprised to see that from a news organization with a primarily American audience. Also, I didn't see anything in the article implying anything about further spread in Africa.

That last question was merely sarcastic and based on my understanding of the article; discussing potential spread to the US/Europe suggests that the virus has already spread in Africa, at least that's how I saw it.

I figured you were being sarcastic. But I do think it would actually be interesting for someone to look into propagation within Africa.

It seems rather egocentric to expect US national radio to serve Africa?

It will very difficult for the virus to cross the Sahara. It needs to infect a traveler at the right time in the right direction. Also, I guess that there are more from trips from Conakry to Paris than to Tunis, so probably Tunis is safer than Paris. But IANAMD and YMMV.

With a 3-week incubation period as mentioned in the MSF letters, that doesn't sound so impossible...

I'd say the assumption is that other African countries already are worried and taking action.

It's also important to consider the severity that an Ebola outbreak develops based on its transport options. Usually, an Ebola outbreak devastates a village or a few villages. This current outbreak has spread over multiple countries.

What do you think will happen, when the first Ebola patient appears in Frankfurt, Heathrow or Dubai?

Outbreaks are particularly scary to areas of high population density. It's one of the biggest risks to a city like New York. A highly infectious disease could one day go through that city like a hot knife through butter.

That's something Africa mostly doesn't have to worry about, I would think. This could just be my ignorance showing, but I don't think there are any places in Africa with the density of Manhattan island?

Cairo?

Manhattan's population density is 25,846/km²[1].

Cairo's population density is 46,349/km²[2].

[1] - https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Manhattan's+population+...

[2] - https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Cairo's+population+dens...

I stand corrected.

Google "Lagos".