Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Ebola Explodes in Africa as Mystery Virus Rampages Through United States

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The Ebola epidemic is spreading rapidly in West Africa where health care is not readily available.  In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea the situation is dire, and the disease is emerging rapidly in surrounding countries.

Before the explosion of Ebola in West Africa this year, the disease did not exist in the region.  Ebola is a disease that has been more common to Central Africa.  With over 1,800 people dead, scientists are still trying to figure out how Ebola made its way to West Africa.  Some researchers believe the culprit may be fruit bats, a bush meat consumed by natives of some of the countries where Ebola has emerged.

Modes of travel, once the disease makes its way into human communities, may be serving as another vehicle for the spread of the disease, not only because the diseased are moving around using these conveyances, but because shared modes of travel such as taxis and buses are not disinfected.  West African nations have not seen the need for conventional Ebola control measures, having no history with the disease.

As Ebola spreads through Africa, and other nations fear the disease spreading to countries outside of Africa as a result of air travel, and other means, a mysterious virus is also making its way through the United States.

A suspected enterovirus, the illness causes respiratory problems, beginning with symptoms similar to the common cold.

An uncommon, but not new virus, the suspected virus is treated in a similar manner as one would with a cold or the flu.  The enterovirus was first identified in the 1960s, and since it hasn't been around for a while, people are more susceptible to it.  Some reports say that children with this virus are sicker than when sick with the common cold or flu.  Prevention includes washing hands, and drinking plenty of fluids.


-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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