It’s highly unlikely that you’ll become infected with Ebola. So what are you so afraid of? "This is how to get Ebola: Come into direct contact with the bodily fluids of a person who is infected with the virus and already symptomatic. Ebola doesn't travel through the air....Still, amid the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, in West Africa, the news of the first case diagnosed in the United States has prompted people to act as if they're a half-breath away from catching the virus anyway....The virus has not ravaged the United States. But the word — Ebola! — is ubiquitous, and so is the fear that comes with it." Abby Ohlheiser inThe Washington Post.
Ebola wouldn't make a good bioterror weapon, official says. "A top U.S. public health official rebuffed the suggestion that Americans could potentially be at risk from Ebola brought into the country by illegal immigrants or as part of a terrorism plot....Dr. Fauci also said Ebola would be an ineffective weapon for bioterrorists because it is difficult to transmit compared with other hypothetical biological weapons." Alan Zibel in The Wall Street Journal.
...and measles. "Spread through the air, measles...is many, many times more contagious than Ebola. The US was able to eliminate native strains of the measles virus thanks to several nationwide childhood vaccination campaigns. But the disease still strikes Americans because, like the unfortunate Dallas patient, people bring viral strains into the US all the time. And those foreign strains can infect people who are unvaccinated. Typically, that’s meant those who are too young for the vaccination or those with an allergy or another illness that has compromised their immune system. But in the three biggest outbreaks in 2014, the virus was transmitted when someone introduced a measles strain from outside the US into communities where pockets of people had refused vaccination because of philosophical, religious, or personal beliefs, according to the CDC." Gwynn Guilford in Quartz.
No comments:
Post a Comment