In humans, the Ebola virus has shown itself to be a severe and often fatal disease.
Reports have stated that Ebola symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to Ebola disease.
If an Ebola-infected person might not show symptoms for 21 days, how can airport officials make intelligent decisions about quarantining potential Ebola-infected individuals who might have access to thousands of airports in the United States?
Three weeks is sufficient time for a potentially fatal, Ebola epidemic to spread like wildfire throughout major cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia….then, spread rapidly throughout the entire country.
It has been reported that direct contact with blood or secretions from an Ebola-infected person can transmit Ebola from one person to another.
Wouldn’t that include direct contact with mucus secretions?
If an Ebola-infected person sneezes and uses his hand to cover his mouth, mucus might transfer to the person’s hand. In turn, if that same person uses his hand to hold a handrail in a train station, hold a pushcart in a supermarket, and/or open a public door by grasping a handle that thousands of others with open skin wounds on their hands (torn nail skin, scrape, cut, etc.) may touch, it is easy to discern how Ebola virus disease could spread rapidly and exponentially.
In fact, if an Ebola-infected person sneezes without covering his mouth, thousands of mucus spray-droplets might enter the air and travel into the mucous membranes in and/or around others’ eyes, nostrils, and mouths.
As individuals invested with the responsibility of protecting the health of all of our citizens, our public health officials should immediately limit….if not ban outright… travel between the United States and all countries experiencing uncontained Ebola outbreaks.
Ebola symptoms are reported to be horrific….symptoms have been reported to include uncontrolled bleeding through body orifices, uncontrolled bleeding under the skin, impaired kidney and liver functions, difficulty breathing, and difficulty swallowing…with a past fatality rate of up to 90 percent.
Humanitarian aid workers should be given access to entering the Ebola-outbreak affected countries.
However, even humanitarian aid workers should be quarantined for 21 days upon re-entering our country to protect hundreds of millions of our citizens.
The Bubonic Plague (Black Death, 1300-1400s) killed upwards of approximately 200 million people worldwide.
The Flu Pandemic of 1918 is estimated to have killed upwards of 50 million people worldwide. If prior pandemics in human history were so devastating in times when travel was limited to slow boats, horses, and carts, imagine the rapidity with which a new pandemic could take hold of our country…and world…in an age of unbridled plane travel.
Kathy Rittel
East Williston
