This past week, the Center for Disease Control confirmed the first diagnosis of Ebola within America. The individual’s name is Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national. Ebola is a rare and deadly caused by infection with a strain of Ebola virus. The 2014 epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa. Not surprisingly, many Americans started freaking out. People fear what they don’t understand, and Ebola is a foreign disease with no cure.
The media is over hyping the risk of Ebola, but the risk of an Ebola outbreak affecting multiple people in the U. S is very low, because America has an ability to contain an outbreak, it’s pretty difficult to get infected, it has a high death rate but doesn’t kill as many people as other infection diseases. America has the infrastructure and technology to contain an outbreak. Part of the reason Ebola has spread so rapidly in Africa is due to poor infrastructure and a lack of resources. Accordingly, an Ebola outbreak in the United States is very unlikely. The quality of America’s medical facilities and equipment means that it has the capacity to contain the disease.
Likewise, CDC Director Thomas Frieden stated, “I have no doubt that we will control this case of Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country. ” It’s actually pretty difficult to get infected. In order to contract Ebola, you have to come in contact with the bodily fluids of someone with symptoms the disease. If a hospital is adhering to proper infection-control procedures, then Ebola is highly unlikely to spread. Indeed, the common cold is more contagious.
Ebola doesn’t always kill those who contract it. In terms of the current outbreak in West Africa, it has killed about seventy percent of those who have become infected. Those who survive can return to full strength and are not at risk of infecting other people in the future. Quality medical care, which is available in the United States, can help people survive. Dr. Kent Brantly contracted Ebola while he was treating patients in Liberia. He ultimately survived. Now, it is believed that his blood, and the blood of other survivors, can help infected patients recover.
Experimental drugs are one possible way to treat Ebola. These drugs have shown signs of success with Ashoka Mukpo, an American cameraman being treated in Nebraska. Mukpo has also received a blood transfusion from Dr. Brantly. He recently tweeted that he’s “on the road to good health. ” Hence, there are ways to combat this disease. Ebola has a high death rate, but doesn’t kill as many people as other infectious diseases. There are a number of other diseases that kill more people than Ebola. In the United States for example, heart disease is the leading cause of death. It’s true that heart disease is not an infectious disease, but it is still killing an alarming number of people and merits immediate attention.
In Africa, malaria and HIV/AIDs, among other illnesses, are still killing decidedly more people than Ebola. Not to mention, millions of Africans don’t have access to clean water, which causes a great number of deaths from a number of preventable water-related diseases. Ebola does have a very high death rate, but other diseases still kill more people. This is primarily because Ebola isn’t as contagious as these other diseases. Correspondingly, as the limited health resources in West Africa go to Ebola, more people are going to die from other infectious diseases, such as malaria.
The point is, we can’t view Ebola as the only health problem in the world, particularly when it comes to Africa. Unlike the common cold, influenza and measles, for example, Ebola is not airborne, meaning it’s not transmitted through the air. It spreads through bodily fluids. You can safely sit in the same room as someone with Ebola and not contract it, but if an infected individual vomits or sneezes on you, that’s a different story.
The fact of the matter is, however, that Ebola is not nearly as contagious as some people might believe. It’s also very difficult to contract Ebola on a flight, even if there is an infected passenger on the plane. Unless another passenger infected with Ebola vomits or bleeds on you, for example, you’re unlikely to contract it. Experts also believe that Ebola is unlikely to mutate and become airborne. Likewise, coughing and sneezing are not typical symptoms of Ebola, thus, it is unlikely to spread through droplets in this manner.
Ebola has an incubation period of around two to twenty one days. Infected individuals are contagious when symptoms start to show. There have been a number of Ebola outbreaks in Africa in the past, but they have always been contained. The reason this one is so notable is that it’s the deadliest one yet. However, it’s not something that can’t ultimately be contained and controlled, it will just take time. Before Americans freak out over Ebola, they should realize that there are a number of other major health issues that require imminent attention as well.
In 2011, for example, 50,000 people died from flu-related problems. Yet, to offer some perspective, only one person has died from Ebola within the United States as of October 8. Ebola is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed, but that shouldn’t distract people from the positive things happening around them. In fact, one might argue that this is the greatest time in history to be alive. Despite the struggles before us, good things happen every day too, remember that.