Sunday, October 5, 2014

EBOLA: Does it Even Matter if it's Airborne? Lessons from Smallpox

One of the few viruses qualified for wiping out society as we know it. If you turn on the news and watch any of the stories regarding ebola, you'll note that the topic revolves around what ebola is not, rather than what ebola is- much like the response by our CDC and by other organizations around the world has been quite optimistic- perhaps to a fault, as our leaders declare it to be easily contained, difficult to transmit, and especially (and the media and government want you to remember this!) definitely, absolutely, NOT airborne. However a cursory look at the CDC's own website might explain why this "difficult to transmit" virus, which is totally, absolutely, positively not airborne, has resulted in the medical community quietly warning that we're not actually prepared at all, all the while equally quietly stocking up not anymore on filtration masks and nitrile gloves, (which are facing shortage anyways by now) but rather self contained biosuits more akin to the gear worn by an astronaut than the average doctor. In fact, comparing the CDC's fact sheets on ebola and another, also "not airborne" disease shows us why they might be so concerned- for the transmission method of ebola is virtually the same as that of smallpox- and if smallpox were to break out in Africa and kill 3,400 people, you can bet your top dollar the border would be closed tomorrow, because if Obama refused to do so, he'd have a mob of hundreds of thousands of protestors threatening to blockade every airport and road into the nation if he didn't.



Read more about EBOLA: Does it Even Matter if it's Airborne? Lessons from Smallpox

No comments:

Post a Comment