Global Travel Means Global Threats!!!
An Ebola Outbreak in West Africa…
The age of global travel has presented many advantages to the United States but it also has as many disadvantages. Due to the luxury of efficient, inexpensive, and accessible travel, global threats have never been so unyielding and omnipresent. One of the most concerning threats is the spread of disease from all corners of the globe that present a danger to the United States public.
In Freetown, Sierra Leone, officials have appealed to the public for help to locate the first known resident of that busy city of over 1 million people that has been diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus. The patient’s family removed her from the hospital by force after she tested positive for the deadly disease. There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola and some of its symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding. In a significant outbreak Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected. The death rate of the current outbreak is approximately 60% though this could be higher given the un-diagnosed cases in remote areas. Dozens of people who have been diagnosed with this disease are currently unaccounted for in the rural areas of Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other international medical organizations have deployed to the area to contain this outbreak but poor health infrastructure and few resources have hampered the progress.
Medical officials have used the mass media to broadcast their pleas to the public to assist in capture of the missing patient before the Ebola virus spreads further in this city. This disease has killed approximately 660 people across West Africa including in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone since an outbreak was identified in February 2014.
This is the first Ebola outbreak in heavily populated area with major international travel hubs since its discovery in 1976. With the spread of this outbreak and the unaccounted victims of this virus how long will it be until it shows up in human hosts in Europe or the United States facilitated by the globalism and international travel.
Is the United States ready for an outbreak of this deadly disease? The good and the bad news is that Ebola often kills faster than it has the opportunity to transmit to new hosts and it is also only transmits through contact with infected blood or bloodily fluids that can be prevented with universal safety precautions that are typically in the west.
