OPINION LETTERS

摘要

While I agree population mobility and urbanisation are contributing factors to the size of the current Ebola outbreak (9 August, p 6), it is important to stress that there are many factors at play. I recently returned from Gueckedou, Guinea, where I worked with the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. The perspective on the ground is that the primary contributor to the size of this outbreak has been the cultural and traditional behaviours of the local population. Traditional funeral practices in the region involve close contact with the deceased, whose bodily fluids still harbour high quantities of virus.