Dr. Marc Siegel, a
practising internist,
joined FOX News Channel
(FNC) as a contributor in
2008. In this piece on the
international news medium’s website, Siegel
says the fear of Ebola is a
bigger problem, which
should be given more
attention if the disease is
to be stopped
The Ebola virus has been
infecting and killing people in
Central Africa since at least
1976, and the current “worst
Ebola epidemic in history” has
been going on in West Africa since March. But it is only in
the past few weeks that a
second deadly “virus” has
emerged, as the news media
has caught on to this story
and has broadcast it around the world, infecting everyone
with another contagious
virus: fear.

Don’t get me wrong; Ebola is a
bad bug, and well worth
being concerned about. This
particular Zaire strain kills up
to 90 percent of its human
victims. It often fools the immune system of a host into
not recognizing it, and many
victims end up in kidney and
liver failure without even a
fight. On top of this, Ebola is
difficult to recognize, appearing first like any other
flu with fatigue, fever,
headache, muscle aches. Then
you can start to have
vomiting and diarrhea, and
caretakers and close contacts of afflicted patients can catch
Ebola even as they try to help
contain it.
But fear and ignorance are
spreading in West Africa along
with Ebola, as natives
mistrust the very
humanitarian aid that is being
brought in to help them. Physicians in the Ebola
trenches are heroes, not
sources of contagion, but not
everyone sees them that
way. Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan,
whose work in Sierra Leone against several viruses —
including Ebola — is
legendary, died this week of
the dreaded virus. His work
should be celebrated.

But with this Ebola outbreak
already killing close to 700 in
West Africa, the best way to
combat it is with solid science,
and the biggest threat to this
proven strategy is fear. Ebola isn’t spread by coughing and
sneezing. Isolating sick
patients and their contacts has
worked in stopping previous
Ebola outbreaks. The same
kind of infection-control precautions are used that have
also worked successfully with
HIV/AIDS (gloves, gowns,
masks). Unfortunately, when people
are afraid, they take fewer
infectious precautions, and
spread more virus. This is why
regional quarantines haven’t
always worked historically. It is probably prudent for
Liberia to close most of its
borders and to have Ebola
testing centers at the ones
that remain open, as long as
this doesn’t spread panic. While it is also reasonable to
issue travel advisories and
screen patients for viral
symptoms coming in and out
of West Africa, and the CDC is
wise to issue Level 2 travel precautions (avoid direct
contact with Ebola patients),
anything beyond this at this
point would be
counterproductive.

It is very unlikely that
someone will contract Ebola
from casual contact on a plane.
It is even more unlikely that
if Ebola does appear in the U.S.,
that it will lead to a sustained outbreak here, because of our
public health system. The
challenge to provide
supportive care while
properly isolating patients is
much greater in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea than it would
be here. Living close together, being
unaware of how viruses
spread, and even burial rituals
have helped to spread Ebola in
West Africa. This epidemic will
still likely be contained and not spread to other countries.
If it does spread, it will likely
not be sustained, in part
because Ebola is so deadly it
usually kills the host before
he/she has a chance to spread it. Several vaccines and anti-viral
drugs have showed promising
results in animals, and human
testing is under way, though
no treatment or vaccine will
be ready for market soon. In the meantime, the best
treatment for both Ebola and
the spreading fear of Ebola is
to offer the world
information and perspective,
and for those afflicted in Africa — careful isolation.
When it comes to a health
scare, the news media has
never been great at providing
this kind of calm, rational
perspective. The time to start
is now.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/to-stop-ebola-we-must-end-the-virus-called-fear/

Please tell them , fear won't aid a thing

Very educative. This Ebola thing is getting blown out of proportion. I believe the article has all w need to know and do concerning Ebola.