Ebola In The U.S. – It’s Real

The Center for Disease Control has confirmed the presence of an ebola-infected patient on U.S. soil — a patient in Dallas who flew in on September 20th.

No Real Cause For Panic

In August, an outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa meant that the number of confirmed cases exploded, with significant mortality rates. The disease has been known to kill as many as 90% of its victims, depending on the strain.

Ebola has arrived at our front door, and it’s too early to say what the outcome will be, but the consequences could be very real.

The CDC confirming its presence in America means that, essentially, all bets are off.

According to the World Health Organization, the current outbreak is the “largest and most complex Ebola outbreak” since the disease was discovered in 1976.

That outbreak landed in the form of a patient who arrived in Dallas, Texas on September 20th and began to exhibit symptoms four or five days later. The CDC announced that the patient had contact with “a handful of people” and they’re working to determine who those people are so they can be placed under observation to determine if they’re exhibiting symptoms.

As for the patient himself, the CDC declined to comment on the state of his condition, other than that he was under “intensive care.”

How Do We Avoid It?

Let’s be honest — Ebola in the U.S.? We’ve all watched way too many zombie/pandemic/apocalyptic movies in the last few years not to be panicking a little bit right now.

So is there any hope for us? Well, it’s too soon to say, but an experimental drug did save two American aid workers after they became infected in August, so that’s a good sign.

Also a positive? It’s not airborne; transmission occurs via exposure to bodily fluids. So if we all stay indoors, we can ride this one out. Potentially.