US Healthcare Worker With Ebola in Serious Condition

Remember when the world was terrified of the Ebola epidemic and everyone, especially Americans, though that they would die? Well while the overreaction in the United States and the west seems to have died down, Ebola is still tearing its way through western Africa, albeit at a slower pace than before. Even though the media furor has died down, Ebola still remains a threat to the region and there have many volunteers from various countries who have gone over to help with the effort against Ebola. Along with the volunteers (who usually work a charity of sort sort), countries has been sending official missions to help deliver supplies and the training needed to use them to medics on the ground, as well as to help with the actual efforts too.

Recently a US healthcare worker was diagnosed with Ebola. The disease has an almost 50% death rate of those infected and so it’s incredibly important to transfer the infected to urgent care so that they can be monitored and supported while also minimizing the risk of transferring the disease to others. The infected US worker has been transferred to the National Institutes of Health’s high-security facility in Maryland that was created for this very specific reason. Along with the infected worker, another patient who may have been exposed on the flight over has also been quarantined to see if they start showing symptoms. The infected worker is the 11th person with Ebola to be treated on US soil and has managed to remain in good spirits throughout the entire ordeal.

The infecting of this US healthcare worker is a stark reminder that while the fight against Ebola continues to go well, it’s far from over. The disease may be lessening in west Africa but it can still infect and it can still kill those that get sick. Clearly the efforts in place have been working but they need to be carried all the way through to the end if this epidemic is to be finally eradicated. Hopefully people will continue to recognize the danger of this disease and that people in the stricken African countries still need our help, both in terms of money to buy supplies and the expertise to use them as efficiently as possible.

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