Ebola October 2014(rewrite)

Ebola-Affected Countries Release Date: October 8, 2014

New layers of screening at airports that receive more than 94% of West African Travelers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs & Border Protection (CBP) this week will begin new layers of entry screening at five U.S. airports that receive over 94 percent of travelers from the Ebola-affected nations of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (http://www.dhs.gov/news/2014/10/08/enhanced-ebola-screening-start-five-us-airports-all-people-entering-us-Ebola).

“We work to continuously increase the safety of Americans,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “We believe these new measures will further protect the health of Americans, understanding that nothing we can do will get us to absolute zero risk until we end the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.”(http://www.dhs.gov/news/2014/10/08/enhanced-ebola-screening-start-five-us-airports-all-people-entering-us-Ebola).

Precautions such as these are meant to calm fears and concerns, but should there be fears or concerns in the first place.

Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous, blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola, objects (like needles and syringes) that have been contaminated with the virus, infected animals, Ebola is not spread through the air or by water, or in general, by food ( http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission).

 There could be as many as two dozen people in the U.S. infected with Ebola by the end of the month, according to researchers tracking the virus with a computer model (Bloomberg).

Consider the living conditions and medical options of those living in West Africa compared to those in the United States and it’s obvious that any cases diagnosed in this country will have options for effective treatment.

Is this the first time something similar happened in this country. Those around for a while will recall when AIDS was the issue of concern. I even recall because of unknown factors of how it was spread and treated someone was ask to not attend a community religious service. With time and research we obtained accurate information and fears were calmed.

The flu has been around for a long time and effects numerous people yearly with several groups at high risk with potential serious complications. But is there fear or panic over it, no and there is no reason for it with Ebola either. We’re getting inundated with everything Ebola, so time to take a deep breath and keep in mind not all is what it seems.