Tobacco, alcohol and drug use: the good and the bad news

Professor Lyn Gilbert, a leading infectious disease expert in charge of Australia’s response to the Ebola virus, reacts after speaking at a lecture at Sydney University on 30 October. Australia’s newly appointed Ebola “tsar” challenged the government’s blanket ban on visas from West African nations affected by the deadly virus, saying the controversial measure was not supported by medical evidence. The government touted the ban as a necessary precaution, but Professor Gilbert, who is the top government medical offi cial to speak out against the ban, said there was no evidence to back its claim, which was blasted by leaders in Liberia and Sierra Leone as draconian and discriminatory.