The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa has a fatality rate of about 70%. This is not quoting figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), which likely are inaccurate, but rather was determined by watching a small group of Ebola patients throughout the course of their illness and determining how many actually recovered. This study was done by Andrew Rambaut, an evolutionary biologist who studies infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. 1
Nearly 3,000 people have died in West Africa of Ebola virus since March 2014. The United Nations Security Council recently held a meeting to address the Ebola threat. Never before has the U.N. Security Council met to confront a public health crisis. According to Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-Moon, the rate of infection from Ebola is doubling every 3 weeks. 2
The symptoms can vary, but generally begin like the flu – fever and body aches. In the end, victims begin bleeding from all their orifices, and their internal organs deteriorate. The progress from infection to first symptoms can take as much as three weeks. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a person becomes infectious once symptoms appear.
People who have Ebola spread the disease through their body fluids – blood, vomit, diarrhea, saliva. So, if someone with Ebola coughs or sneezes on another person, infection will spread.
While the CDC and the WHO have repeatedly assured the public that Ebola is not an airborne illness, lingering in the air of a room or traveling through the air ducts of a building, that may not be entirely true.
In the late 1980s, a group of monkeys imported for scientific use fell ill at a facility in Reston, VA. The virus was determined to be a variation on the Ebola virus, 3 and was recorded as spreading through the ventilation ducts from one room where the monkeys were kept to another roomful of monkeys.
Influenza is a more familiar disease, and it is considered an airborne illness in that it can linger in the air and infect people not in direct physical contact with a sick person. The ability of such a disease to go airborne is enhanced in colder temperatures, which is why we have a “flu season” in the winter. So far, Ebola has been confined to tropical climates, but if it comes to our shores, it could conceivably spread like kudzu when the temperatures begin to drop. Nobody has seen what Ebola can do in a colder climate.
But will it come here?
Last week, a ship from West Africa docked in New Orleans. Half-a-dozen sick sailors went to the hospital. They were diagnosed with malaria, but for a short time I’m sure there were some nervous healthcare workers in New Orleans. 4
So far, no Western nations have closed their ports or borders to incoming ships and flights from the Ebola-ravaged countries of West Africa.
With the Hajj beginning, Saudi Arabia has mandated that of the countries reporting Ebola outbreaks, only Nigeria will be allowed to send Muslims on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. 5 Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims will be shoulder-to-shoulder there, and if one or two begin showing symptoms of Ebola, it could spread like wildfire. Three weeks after their return home could be like 9 months after a blackout….the results become painfully obvious then.
What should we do, if Ebola comes to these shores? Well, in fact, it already has. At least 4 patients have been treated here that were infected in West Africa. These were healthcare workers from America trying to stem the tide of disease in Liberia or Sierra Leone.
But what do we do if Ebola gets out? What can the average American do to protect himself or his family, should the virus go wild in America? There are a few practical steps we can take to protect ourselves from Ebola:
1 http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2014/09/how-deadly-ebola-statistical-challenges-may-be-inflating-survival-rate
2 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29262968
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston_virus
4 http://wgno.com/2014/09/17/ship-with-sick-crewmen-to-dock-in-new-orleans-tonight/
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj
Nearly 3,000 people have died in West Africa of Ebola virus since March 2014. The United Nations Security Council recently held a meeting to address the Ebola threat. Never before has the U.N. Security Council met to confront a public health crisis. According to Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-Moon, the rate of infection from Ebola is doubling every 3 weeks. 2
The symptoms can vary, but generally begin like the flu – fever and body aches. In the end, victims begin bleeding from all their orifices, and their internal organs deteriorate. The progress from infection to first symptoms can take as much as three weeks. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a person becomes infectious once symptoms appear.
People who have Ebola spread the disease through their body fluids – blood, vomit, diarrhea, saliva. So, if someone with Ebola coughs or sneezes on another person, infection will spread.
While the CDC and the WHO have repeatedly assured the public that Ebola is not an airborne illness, lingering in the air of a room or traveling through the air ducts of a building, that may not be entirely true.
In the late 1980s, a group of monkeys imported for scientific use fell ill at a facility in Reston, VA. The virus was determined to be a variation on the Ebola virus, 3 and was recorded as spreading through the ventilation ducts from one room where the monkeys were kept to another roomful of monkeys.
Influenza is a more familiar disease, and it is considered an airborne illness in that it can linger in the air and infect people not in direct physical contact with a sick person. The ability of such a disease to go airborne is enhanced in colder temperatures, which is why we have a “flu season” in the winter. So far, Ebola has been confined to tropical climates, but if it comes to our shores, it could conceivably spread like kudzu when the temperatures begin to drop. Nobody has seen what Ebola can do in a colder climate.
But will it come here?
Last week, a ship from West Africa docked in New Orleans. Half-a-dozen sick sailors went to the hospital. They were diagnosed with malaria, but for a short time I’m sure there were some nervous healthcare workers in New Orleans. 4
So far, no Western nations have closed their ports or borders to incoming ships and flights from the Ebola-ravaged countries of West Africa.
With the Hajj beginning, Saudi Arabia has mandated that of the countries reporting Ebola outbreaks, only Nigeria will be allowed to send Muslims on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. 5 Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims will be shoulder-to-shoulder there, and if one or two begin showing symptoms of Ebola, it could spread like wildfire. Three weeks after their return home could be like 9 months after a blackout….the results become painfully obvious then.
What should we do, if Ebola comes to these shores? Well, in fact, it already has. At least 4 patients have been treated here that were infected in West Africa. These were healthcare workers from America trying to stem the tide of disease in Liberia or Sierra Leone.
But what do we do if Ebola gets out? What can the average American do to protect himself or his family, should the virus go wild in America? There are a few practical steps we can take to protect ourselves from Ebola:
- Bleach kills the virus, so I would stock up on lots of bleach to disinfect any surface touched by someone exposed to the disease.
- An N-95 face mask is normally sufficient for protection from the flu, but some people are recommending paying extra for an N-100 face mask/respirator.
- PPE – Personal Protective Equipment. This includes the face mask mentioned above, plus lots of rubber gloves and a few rolls of duct tape for sealing up sleeves, pant cuffs, etc. A spokesman for Samaritan’s Purse, whose missionary was the first to be brought back to the States for treatment of Ebola, said if one centimeter of your body is exposed to Ebola, you can get it.
- Stay home. If the Ebola virus gets out among the population in the United States, avoid going out among other people. If it comes to your region, don’t go to town at all. This means preparing in advance for sheltering in place up to 3 months. You need to have food and prescription medicines put back for this eventuality, plus whatever you might need for the upcoming season – a source of heat if winter is coming, a source of plentiful water if summer is coming. Plan ahead.
- Matches and flammable liquid. If someone dies of Ebola, put the body and all its belongings on a funeral pyre to burn.
1 http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2014/09/how-deadly-ebola-statistical-challenges-may-be-inflating-survival-rate
2 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29262968
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston_virus
4 http://wgno.com/2014/09/17/ship-with-sick-crewmen-to-dock-in-new-orleans-tonight/
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj