The UN World Health Organization is warning that Ebola is now entrenched in the capital cities of all three of the worst-affected countries in the Western African Epidemic.  And as the rate of infections accelerate, the developed world’s response is not keeping up.

Take for example a conservative lawmaker from America’s Midwest.  Senator Jim Inhofe of Nebraska (considered a dimbulb by some) is holding up America’s funding because of the Republican Party’s doctrine of not spending money.  On things.  Louisiana Senator David Vitter, another Republican, actually said that he thinks the plan to fight Ebola as submitted by President Barack Obama focuses too much on Africa – where the UN World Health Organization says more than 3,860 people have been killed by the deadly virus, which isn’t waiting around for America’s toxic partisan and racial politics to get its arse into gear.

Meanwhile, America’s own health officials are trying to keep a sane front and explain that Ebola is a real problem, one that could lead to a global pandemic.

“In the 30 years I’ve been working public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS, and we have to work now so that this is not the world’s next AIDS,” said US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden.  Unfortunately, America’s initial response to that epidemic during the administration of Republican President Ronald Reagan was slow, spotty, and marked by bigotry.

As proof of the damage that a botched response to Ebola can do, America need look no further than the case of Thomas Duncan, the Liberian man initially denied treatment at a wealthy, well-equipped hospital in Dallas, Texas.  But the same mistakes of delaying treatment were also made by Spanish health officials in the case of Teresa Romero Ramos, the nurse who is first person to contract Ebola outside of Africa when she cared for a Priest who airlifted from Africa after he was infected.  Her pleas for help as Ebola symptoms appeared one by one were ignored by officials, and there appears to be no good reason for it.  Eventually she was admitted to hospital – after learning she was Ebola positive by checking the local news on her smart phone.

Officials admit Teresa’s condition has worsened.  Romero’s brother said she was now being helped with her breathing in hospital.  Two doctors who treated her have been admitted for observation, bringing to six the total number of people under quarantine at the hospital in Madrid.

Australia at least has had some good news:  56-year old Queenslander Sue-Ellen Kovack, the nurse who helped treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone with the Red Cross, has tested negative for the virus.  She’ll remain in quarantine for the 21-day incubation period, but her doctors are encouraged.

Nurses and Doctors, orderlies and volunteers put themselves on the frontlines to defend the most vulnerable people from a pitiless killer.

Now, if someone could just protect them from politicians and bureaucrats.