Recently, a Liberian national named Thomas Eric Duncan was admitted to a Dallas hospital for symptoms of Ebola. Today, eleven days later, Mr. Duncan passed away. His death has sent our nation into a state of panic and as a result, many precautions have been taken to secure the safety of all American people starting with the monitoring of 48 people who had direct or indirect contact with Mr. Duncan, 10 of whom are listed as “high risk”. Also, select airports will begin conducting extra screening for diseases such as Ebola. These airports include J.F.K. International and O’Hare International. According to the World Health Organization, the current outbreak of Ebola is one of the largest in history, killing 3,879 people out of 8,033 cases as of October 5th. 
Regardless of the action taken by the United States, Ebola has still entered American soil. Though Ebola is a near fatal disease, it is possible Duncan could have been treated, thus preventing the whole scare. Duncan was admitted on September 28th but went to the hospital two days prior because he did not feel well. Doctors sent him home with only antibiotics. Once symptoms begin to noticeably show and become severe, the disease has spread throughout the body and has become contagious. However, no one could have stopped Duncan from entering the U.S. Duncan lied on his pre flight questionnaire, saying that he had not been in contact with the virus when he had indeed knowingly been in the presence of a pregnant women who later died from the virus.
My personal stance on the matter is that America has absolutely nothing to fear. We are taking the necessary precautions and we have detected the virus very quickly. Because the virus can take up to three weeks to become contagious and only spreads through bodily fluids, I believe if citizens are cautious around those who may be sick and visit the doctor’s immediately if feeling sick, we have a great chance of avoiding an outbreak.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0HX1OK20141008
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/08/ebola-dallas-deputy-sheriff-hospital-symptoms-death
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0HX1OK20141008
An American died from Ebola. Let’s hope no more do.
This winter, maybe 4,000, maybe 50,000 Americans will die from the flu.
This year, maybe 24,000, maybe 100,000 Americans will die from drug resistant bacterial infections.
Next year, when Ebola has gone back to the jungles (we hope), flu will kill another ?25,000 Americans. Drug resistant bacteria, another ?40,000 Americans. The year after that, flu another 25,000, drug resistant bacteria ?50,000?…..
While there is a drug on the market (Chimerix) that has been given to patients with Ebola, there is no cure for this disease at this point. There have been treatments but the reason Americans are concerned about the disease is there is no cure. While Duncan should not have lied about being in touch with a woman with Ebola, it does not change the fact that he had the disease and is the first American to die from it on American soil. Also, people start showing symptoms on average from 8-10 days after getting the virus, but in some cases it can take 21 days. That means that the three weeks until they are contagious, they won’t even know they have the disease so they won’t act any differently to those around them. People fear the unknown more than the disease itself, but I don’t believe Ebola is “nothing to worry about” just yet.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102068233#.
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/symptoms/