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EBOLA! (...meningitis)

2014-08-12 · letter vlog · John · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Personal life) · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, heavy topic

John, recovering from viral meningitis after the internet 'diagnosed' him with Ebola, argues that the West African outbreak spreads because of poor health infrastructure and that Americans make it about a vague 'us', which helps no one.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; John's brain and spinal-cord linings are inflamed; hospitalised, worst pain of his life; the internet diagnoses him with Ebola ('John Green Ebola' trends on Twitter)

  • ★★ John apologises that the video may be disjointed: the linings of his brain and spinal cord are inflamed. — 00:00:02
  • ★★ Last week (week of 4 August 2014) John messaged that he would miss his Vlogbrothers video because he was in hospital, then went back to being in the worst pain of his life. — 00:00:06 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ While he lay in pain, the internet 'diagnosed' him with Ebola: 'John Green Ebola' trended on Twitter and people he knew texted to ask if it was confirmed. (playful) — 00:00:14 · Twitter

00:00:31 — He had been in Ethiopia, as far from the outbreak as England from Afghanistan; malaria kills more today than Ebola in ten years

  • ★★ Ten days before falling ill with what turned out to be viral meningitis, John was in Ethiopia, on the same continent as Guinea and Sierra Leone, where Ebola is spreading. — 00:00:31 · Sierra Leone
  • ★★ John says Ethiopia is as far from the outbreak as England is from Afghanistan, mocking the 'same continent, ergo Ebola' inference. — 00:00:40 · England
  • ★★★ Ebola is a very serious crisis in West Africa, but John says more people will die of malaria today than have died of Ebola in the last ten years combined. — 00:00:53 · malaria

00:01:04 — Doctors suspected meningitis, malaria, typhoid or dengue, not Ebola; even Ebola would not have been a public-health deal

  • ★★ In hospital, doctors worried he might have meningitis, malaria, typhoid or dengue fever, all potentially fatal, but were not worried about Ebola. — 00:01:04 · malaria
  • ★★★ John argues that even if he had had Ebola it would have mattered to him and his family but would not have been a big deal from a public-health perspective. — 00:01:15

00:01:27 — Mock news story about 'Ebola Johnny' at a Harry Potter convention; why he could not have infected the 1,600 LeakyCon attendees

  • ★★ John parodies the news story that would have run: 'Ebola Johnny' back from Africa signed books for 1,600 people at a Harry Potter convention in Orlando, all now 'dripping with the disease'. (satire) — 00:01:27
  • ★★ He could not have infected the LeakyCon attendees anyway: people are not contagious with Ebola unless symptomatic, and he shared no bodily fluids with them. — 00:01:42

00:02:04 — Ebola spreads through facilities without water or gloves; not a superbug; treatments may come; the cause is poor health infrastructure

  • ★★★ Ebola spreads because it is often treated in facilities without running water or latex gloves, making sterilisation impossible; water and bleach alone would prevent many cases. — 00:02:04
  • ★★ Ebola is not a terrifying, uncontrollable superbug; John says there is mounting evidence that treatments or vaccines might exist within a year. (hedged) — 00:02:15
  • ★★★ The most important thing, John says, is that the outbreak is happening because of poor health infrastructure. — 00:02:23

00:02:28 — Obsession with Ebola because diseases of the developing world seem Other; malaria deaths; making the outbreak about America is a disservice; fix infrastructure

  • ★★★ John thinks people are obsessed with Ebola because it is novel and very fatal, but also because diseases endemic to the developing world seem Other. (hedged) — 00:02:28 · othering, global health
  • ★★★ More than half a million people will die of malaria this year (2014), yet malaria is not imagined as a disease 'coming for us', whatever 'us' means. — 00:02:36 · malaria, othering
  • ★★ Ebola is not coming for this vague 'us' either: John says it is not going to spread widely in the US or Europe. — 00:02:46 · United States, Europe
  • ★★★ When Americans make the Ebola outbreak about America, they do a great disservice to themselves and to the communities actually affected. — 00:02:51 · United States, othering
  • ★★ In Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, health workers must choose between abandoning their work and risking Ebola for themselves and their kids, because of inadequate infrastructure and supplies. — 00:03:02 · Sierra Leone
  • ★★★ Addressing that infrastructure problem instead of panicking about Ebola reaching 'us' would reduce transmission and also save many lives from malaria, typhoid and meningitis. — 00:03:14 · malaria

00:03:28 — He almost certainly caught meningitis in Florida; will be around less; thanks Nerdfighters for putting stuff on their heads; sign-off

  • ★★ It turns out John almost certainly caught meningitis not in Ethiopia but in Florida, in Orlando, the city of his youth. (hedged) — 00:03:31 · Florida
  • ★★ Recovery will take a while, so John apologises in advance if he is not around as much in the coming weeks. — 00:03:41
  • ★★ John thanks Nerdfighters for putting stuff on their heads to cheer him up; it did the trick when he desperately needed it. — 00:03:49 · Nerdfighteria, Stuff on Heads

Humor (significant)

  • John imagines the alarmist news story about him returning from Africa and signing books for 1,600 Harry Potter fans. — 00:01:31

    “all of whom are now veritably dripping with the disease.”

  • Explaining he couldn't have infected LeakyCon attendees because he shared no bodily fluids with them. — 00:01:58

    “Call me old fashioned, Hank, but I like to keep bodily fluid sharing within my nuclear family.”

  • John learns he caught meningitis in Florida, not Ethiopia. — 00:03:37

    “Oh, Orlando, city of my youth, city of my inflamed meninges.”

  • Explaining his recovery will take time. — 00:03:41

    “it's going to take a little bit for my meninges to completely de-itis.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Ebola virus disease · malaria · meningitis · othering · Western African Ebola virus epidemic

Also: Projects: Stuff on Heads

Organizations: Twitter

Concepts: dengue fever · global health · typhoid fever

Places: Afghanistan · Africa · England · Ethiopia · Europe · Florida · Guinea · Liberia · Orlando, Florida · Sierra Leone · United States · West Africa

Events: LeakyCon

Also centred on Ebola virus disease: Ebola: What IS Terrifying

Also centred on meningitis: Who Owns a Monkey's Selfie? And a Song About Meningitis!

Also centred on Western African Ebola virus epidemic: Ebola: What IS Terrifying · On Emergencies

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