Should Ebola affect travel?

Yes, it should.

By: Sarah White

Swine flu, Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, the list of pandemics that were going to wipe out the human race goes on and on. But now there’s a new player in the “Let’s Kill Humans” game. 

    Ebola has been popping up all over newspapers, Facebook, and tv news all over the country. And while it, itself, hasn’t exactly been a popular diagnoses in the doctor’s office here in the United States, one person has died from it. 

    The disease supposedly started in a small village in West Africa where a little boy ate tainted meat and contracted the disease. And so began a pretty sizable threat. 

    It is estimated that 4,800 people have died in three west African countries from the disease. Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have all seen infection and death pretty regularly since this began. And it’s probably pretty difficult to watch as this is a pretty rough disease; vomiting, diarrhea, internal and external bleeding, among other pretty nasty things. 

    Ebola is very take no prisoners and there isn’t even a cure for it. Rehydration is about all they can do other than hoping your body can fight it off itself. 

    So why on earth would we want to open American Borders to this pretty terrifying disease? While Lady Liberty does say “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...” I think even she might think twice about this one. 

    Ideally, we would never have to cut off air travel for anyone, especially those coming for help, however, this time, we absolutely should. The United States has, arguably, the best health care in the world. Face it, we’re pretty awesome at keeping people breathing. But we don’t even have a vaccine for this one. We can’t do much else for them than anyone else can. So to have infected people come flooding in on planes is a terrible idea. Even though the only way to contract the virus is through bodily fluid contact, someone infected could sneeze since it takes between 2-21 days for symptoms to appear and the victime to become contagious. They could be fine when they get on the plane and sick at 30,000 feet.  

    That’s all it would take, a sneeze. We also are unaware of how Ebola mutates. Doctors know what it kind of looks like and kind of how it transmits but that’s about it. 

     Ebola carries a seventy percent fatality rate. If ten people contract the disease, seven of then will likely die. And once they show symptoms, they’re contagious until well after they die. 

    Caregivers, family, friends, doctors, nurses, mortuaries, are all under threat of contracting the disease. Just think if we had stopped the one sneezing guy from getting on the plane. 

    So while, no, you probably don’t have Ebola unless you’ve been on a plane with an infected person from Guinea, Sierra Leone, or Liberia, the longer we allow the airlines to be completely open and free is the longer we’re playing with fire.

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No, it shouldn't. 

By: Patrice Mitchell

Probably the scariest Halloween costume that anyone could dress up as this year is Ebola. You cannot tune in to any national news source today and not hear or see that word. The very mention of Ebola strikes fear into the communities close to us and abroad. 

    According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website, “Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with a strain of Ebola virus. The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa.”

    On October 8th, Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to have Ebola in the U.S. during this most recent outbreak, died in a hospital in Dallas, Texas. He was visiting family in the U.S., but was not a citizen of the United States.  Shortly after his death, it was revealed that a nurse that was involved with Duncan’s treatment, Nina Pham, was the first person to contract the disease in the US. Soon after the news was released a fear of a pandemic spread throughout the country faster than wild fire. Last week, it was released that Pham has since been cured of the disease. Yet, a man in New York City tested positive as well, according to reports on CNN.

    Pham being cured of the virus did little to calm people, especially once a new case was discovered.  Many people believe that the answer to combating the spread of Ebola, is to shut down international flights to and from countries that have been hit the hardest in the most recent outbreak. While I understand the concern that people have, the fear instilled in society is not warranted. 

     Let me be clear, any disease that has no cure and kills should be top priority for the medical community, and prevention should be the number one health concern for citizens. Although Ebola has killed thousands of people abroad during this most recent outbreak, it is nowhere near as dangerous, statistically, as obesity, smoking cigarettes, alcohol, the common cold, the flu, STDs, AIDs, and car accidents. 

    Everyday throughout the medical community, new medicines are created, cures are discovered, and new viruses and diseases are exposed.  We cannot shutdown travel around the world because of the possibility of contracting a disease. If that were the case, we should shut down for all contagious diseases such as the flu, AIDs, and even the chicken pox. Forbes Magazine publishes, “While the Ebola virus could potentially be transported by travelers to another country by plane ride, according to officials at the CDC, the actual chance of it developing into a serious public health risk in the United States is small.”

    Underdeveloped countries have been hit the worst with the outbreak because poor, unsanitary, and crowded living conditions seem to be a vital part in spreading the virus. Most people in the United States, and the rest of the Westernized world are not living under the extreme conditions that the virus thrives in.  Those affected that do live in the US have been healthcare workers that have worked closely with people that were already infected with the disease. 

    This article is not meant to persuade you that Ebola is not a serious issue. It is to inform you that there is a disease that is spreading faster, and is more contagious than Ebola: its fear. Sensationalism in the media, along with choosing to be ignorant to facts, has allowed fear the homes and infect millions of Americans. So use caution when you are reading blogs on the internet, and check the CDC websites for credible updates on the disease. Until this becomes a real threat to the masses, don’t panic. Live your life, and wash your hands.