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News Tip: Root of Ebola Outbreak is Poverty, Lack of Med Infrastructure, Duke Expert Says

Poverty and substandard medical infrastructure are the underlying causes of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, a Duke professor says

Professor Priscilla Wald can discuss the Ebola outbreak in Africa, its relationship to global poverty, and how addressing the underlying cause is both sensible and possible. She also examines how a cultural fascination with pandemics can affect perceptions of and responses to actual pandemics.Quote: "We hear about how medical ignorance is spreading the disease, but we don't as often hear about how poverty -- in the form of insufficient medical equipment and facilities, for example, or insufficient nutrition and housing -- is the largest factor in the amplification of a disease outbreak that could become a pandemic. If that story was told sufficiently, the core problem might better be addressed.”Bio: Priscilla Wald is an English professor at Duke University and author of “Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative.” She specializes in literature, law, science and medicine and has extensively examined the intersection of myth and medicine as they relate to contagions. For additional comment, contact Wald at: pwald@duke.eduhttp://english.duke.edu/people?subpage=profile&Gurl=/aas/English&Uil=pwald