When The Stakes Are High

Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been the spokesman and the face of the national response to Ebola, since it came to America in September.  The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues to be the deadliest disease epidemic of our modern times and is affecting the entire world as we know it.  This is the by far the largest Ebola outbreak in history and it’s the first in West Africa.  Additionally, according to the CDC, this is the first Ebola epidemic the world has ever known and especially since it has reached America and Spain.    

The epic center for this outbreak is along the west coast of Africa and includes the countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.  Since the outbreak there have been over 9,000 cases with over 4,500 deaths in just two months in Africa.  Additionally, a few cases have been reported in Nigeria and Senegal.  In addition, but unrelated to the West Coast outbreak is an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has reported 69 cases with 49 deaths since August.       

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been tracking this disease or a number of forms of this disease since 1976 when the first known outbreak occurred in Sudan and later in Zaire.  Additionally, it has emerge in Uganda and in pigs in the Philippines.  It is not easy to catch, but spreads when a person comes into contact with the body fluids of an infected person. The disease moves fast and if a person is not treated within 21 days, the chances of survival are slim. It is believed that the transmission of the Ebola diseases to people is linked to the eating of “Bushmeat” that is the consumption of equatorial animals in Africa.  This meat is also known as wildmeat or gamemeat and refers to meat from non-domesticated mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds hunted for food in tropical forests.           

It was not if Ebola was coming to America, but when it was coming.  And now that it has come, the disease has changed a lot of what we do and how we see others in the world.  Interestingly enough, only a hand full of medical research labs around the world were trying to create an antidote for this modern deadly virus.  But since it appearance on the world stage, things have changed.  From head to toe world leaders and governments have been awaken to the reality that Ebola is here and it is not going away. 

Today, many people now realize that if Ebola is not stopped in its track, it will change everything and affect our way of doing business, trade and travel globally.  Ebola has also unearth a number of other issues as well, including world poverty, discrimination, indifference, lack of quality health care systems, underfunding of research, limited number of treatment centers, lack of protective equipment, a lack-a-daisical attitudes towards preparedness and following protocols, and treating those will no medical insurance.   

Yet, perhaps another hidden reason for an interest in stopping Ebola is the fact that these West African countries also produce a number of agriculture and natural resources ... world’s largest rubber plantation, diamonds, iron ore, palm oil, cocoa beans, titanium, aluminum, gold, petroleum, coffee, bananas, pineapples and uranium, to just name a few.  What do you think?