{"id":17130,"date":"2014-08-09T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=17130"},"modified":"2014-08-08T11:47:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T15:47:40","slug":"ebola-crisis-prompts-readiness-responses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2014\/08\/09\/ebola-crisis-prompts-readiness-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola crisis prompts readiness responses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Infographic<\/a>

Infographic on Ebola from the CDC, which has more information here<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

As anyone following the headlines knows, there’s a serious outbreak of Ebola<\/a> in West Africa. The World Health Organization is calling Ebola hemorrhagic fever\u00a0an “extraordinary event” serious enough to be an International health emergency<\/a>. According to a WHO statement:<\/p>\n

“The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Countries around the world, including the U.S. and Canada, are reassuring their populations that experts are on alert and stand ready to contain the danger.<\/p>\n

Here’s one such recent article from the CBC titled: Ebola outbreak: How Canada’s prep has ‘lead the world’<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“I’m not concerned. I already know that Canada is prepared,” said Jason\u00a0Tetro, a microbiologist and author of\u00a0The Germ Code<\/em>,\u00a0who recently penned the blog entry\u00a0Canada,\u00a0Don’t Worry About Ebola<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in the\u00a0Huffington\u00a0Post.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The assurances are even coming out on local levels, as with this response plan for Ottawa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a believer in Murphy’s Law, I sort of wish those assurances came with greater caution and humility. (As the skit from Monty Python puts it: “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!<\/a>“) But, inappropriate levity aside, I do worry about the trap of hubris.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes. Canada and the U.S. typically have far better resources to prevent outbreaks and improve the outcome against these challenges. Canada feels it gained regrettably-useful experience in 2003’s\u00a0severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS<\/a>) outbreak – better ways to identify, isolate and treat contagion. No deaths were attributed to SARS in the U.S. during that outbreak. There were over 40\u00a0SARS deaths in Canada<\/a>, primarily in Toronto. (Some sources say 43, others 44.)<\/p>\n

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has this\u00a0FAQ on safe management procedures<\/a> for potential Ebola cases that sounds pretty straightforward. (Small aside: Ebola is named for the Ebola River<\/a> and as such should be capitalized.)<\/p>\n

But there is such a thing as underestimating the so-called enemy. Consider: for all the supposedly superior standard procedures in Canada and the U.S., hospitals here have had enormous difficulty in containing other stubbornly persistent problems, such as C. difficile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, there is a valid question of proper perspective. Ebola is a serious, frightening disease, and real people are dying of it right now. But it’s also getting lots of media hype, according to this hysteria-debunking essay by Michael Fumento<\/a>, who has made something of a career as a de-bunker<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This is only the deadliest outbreak of\u00a0Ebola Virus Disease<\/a>\u00a0because past ones were so tiny. At this writing, there have been\u00a01,711 reported cases in Africa and 932 deaths<\/a>. That\u2019s too many. Still no suspected cases that didn\u2019t originate in those four countries and mortality rate remains 55 percent.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0every day<\/i>\u00a0about\u00a0600 sub-Saharan Africans<\/a>\u00a0die of tuberculosis, and contagious diarrhea claims the lives of\u00a02,195 children<\/a>, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria kills\u00a0twice as many people<\/a>\u00a0each day as Ebola has been killing.<\/p>\n

Toss in syphilis, AIDS and lots of other diseases that routinely kill more people than Ebola is right now.<\/p>\n

And, should Ebola come to America, it\u2019s vanishingly unlikely to \u201cbreak out.\u201d Ebola is a lazy spreader. Even a cough or sneeze or sweat from an \u201cactive\u201d case is harmless. Spreading the virus requires contact with large doses of bodily secretions such as blood or vomit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe there’s just a collective fear that the black death of medieval times wasn’t a one-off. That humans are periodically visited by diseases they can’t initially control, like the terrible flu pandemic of 1918-19<\/a>. We carry the boogie-man of sudden, mass death in our subconscious. A primal dread that’s easily ignited.<\/p>\n

Still, do you think we’re getting better at facing new threats, fully prepared? Or are we usually fighting the last medical war, fully ripe for new lessons?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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