Interesting News?

Not really.
Sorry to leave anyone hanging on the end of the earlier post. As I was
sitting typing in Hotel Base in Monrovia, I was informed by security
that on the FM radio the news was saying 6 people had died in Nimba
(where Sangba base is) and that they had eaten chicken. It also said
they had bled heavily from the nose and mouth. This of course meant
lots of phone calls and satellite calls and confirm/deny and
surveillance officers being sent out and all kinds of things!

Bird Flu is a huge issue facing Western Africa right now. Nigeria's
only a country away from us here and lots and lots of people rely on
poultry for food. Walking through Sanniquellie there's a constant din
of squawking chickens, crying roosters, honking ducks, etc.

If bird flu were to make the jump to Liberia, it would be hard. This
region, Nimba, would likely be one of the first hit as we receive
quite a bit of trade traffic from Guinea and even Ivory Coast. If
contaminated birds would be confirmed here, the government would
likely mandate incineration of all poultry in the county, which would
then mean a probable shortage of food.

I should certainly add that that's a worst-case scenario, but at the
same time we are trying to stay as prepared as possible.

So, the incident on the radio, it turns out, was most likely food
poisoning. This happens from time to time around here, I guess. No
bird flu for us. Yay.