Infection 101: Quarantine Ebola Hot Spots

Infection 101: Quarantine Ebola hot spots

 

President Obama and the CDC have decided to allow incoming flights from Ebola hot zone regardless of their potential toxic nature. Less than one month ago the media had few words concerning quarantine bans of affected areas. This reporter has written three other articles why our borders should be closed to those emigrating from high risk areas. Today the media is abuzz with critiques of the Administration and CDC for not taking the right course of action. Instead their rationale enhances not minimizes the human tragedy enveloping this nation. United States is spending millions to track down those who may have been exposed to the latest patients that contracted Ebola. Listening to the director of the CDC, Tom Frieden, it was obvious his mindset paralleled that of the Executive Branch. Doctor Frieden will keep his job a short while longer until more cases of Ebola arise and they will. At this juncture Obama, as usual, will throw the CDC director under the proverbial bus to be replaced with another politically correct physician who takes orders. Frieden continues to provide the public with misinformation concerning Ebola’s ability to spread rapidly. Protocols, Frieden claims, are in place to contain this viral menace. Yet people continue to acquire Ebola unabated by these strict regulations. A new Ebola czar has been appointed to carry out the President’s misdirected policies. Ron Klain, uninitiated in any precepts or teachings in health care has accepted this post. As a non-physician he brings very little to the table except more political correctness. Had Ronald Reagan been at the helm incoming flights would have stopped the same day he became aware of the epidemic. If there is an ounce of good news hysteria around the country has moved up several notches which may cause the President to rethink his position. Banning flights from Ebola hot zones is not only logical it is a moral imperative. Thousands in this country are under observation for Ebola symptoms because of their proximity to a few disease individuals. Think of the chaos that would embody the population of the United States in the event dozens became infected by this toxic menace. Mr. President now is the time to do the right thing, stop incoming flights before more people are consumed by this virus.

 

Mark Davis MD, media consultant, physician and author. President of Davis Writing Services. www.daviswritingservices.com  platomd@gmail.com

Dr. Davis latest book Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster.

Black Plague Two

Black Plague Two

 

One of the deadliest viruses in the history of mankind has found its way to our shores. Ebola, named for the river where it was first identified, moves through its victims with no mercy, leaving a shell of a human being behind. Identified in 1976 Ebola has left an increasing legacy of misery and death wherever this new plague has touched. Most recently the latest epidemic has engulfed numerous countries in Western Africa traveling across borders uninhibited by armies of health workers attempting to stop its movements. Through the munificence of the United States and other countries money, personnel and supplies have been sent to the hardest hit areas. These Ebola hot zones continue to expand even with the best efforts by those on the ground. Recently Thomas Duncan, a citizen of Liberia, entered the U.S. under false pretenses, with the Ebola virus firmly implanted in him. Reports state that Duncan misrepresented his proximity to the infection prior to coming to the states. He presented himself to an emergency room in Dallas Texas a few days after arriving there with flu like symptoms. For reasons that are not clear he was sent home but returned within a short time. At this juncture a presumptive diagnosis of Ebola was made. Duncan’s death came less than two weeks later. Rapidly fatal Ebola patients have few treatment options. The question remains: How many were exposed to the virus as Duncan made his way to the United States? Late word is a hospital worker where Duncan tragically succumbed has tested positive for Ebola. This story is still developing.

 

President Obama and his subordinates at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have stubbornly refused to place travel restrictions on flights from Ebola hot zones. CDC has gone on record asserting a travel ban would do more harm than good, without fully elaborating why. Instead their plan is to take temperature readings of those emigrating from infected areas and to have them fill out questionnaires. Sounds crazy on the surface and it is. An infected patient may not spike a fever for days to weeks after contracting this viral menace. Worse many may hide the fact they were exposed to Ebola. African nations are in the process of quarantining infected areas. Logic dictates we should do the same. This nation’s best course of action is to keep the plague where it originated. Sending our best and brightest into endemic areas, to fight this unseen enemy, is irrational having the potential for horrific ramifications. Political correctness not commonsense is guiding United States Ebola policy. Obama’s containment policies are a series of false actions designed to assuage a fearful public not to stop the virus in its tracks. Ebola has been acquired by those in full protective gear suggesting a different path of inoculation than is commonly believed. In the event an airborne component of transmission exists or the virus is found to penetrate biological garb the fight to contain Ebola moves to a new level. The Black Death killed a third of the population of Europe in the 14^th century. How many must die in the United States before policies isolating affected areas are implemented?

 

Mark Davis MD, author of Obamacare Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster and Demons of Democracy.  President of Davis Writing Services. www.daviswritingservices.com  platomd@gmail.com  

Ebola versus ISIS: Which is more threatening

Ebola versus ISIS: which is more threatening

 

America, in the recent past, has been defined by a series of crises and scandals so profound our very existence has been placed at risk. ISIS, a barbaric Muslim group, seeks to decapitate all nonbelievers and an Ebola plague have been added to the mix. Waiting in the shadows until American forces retreated from Iraqi soil ISIS arrived on the scene more virulent than its predecessor. In the space of a few months their ranks have swollen with volunteers from across the planet including America. With their recent surge in Syria and Iraq an unexplainable brutality has followed in their wake. More calculating and better prepared than Al-Qaeda their front is moving quickly to engulf as much as the Middle East as their assets allow. Obama has stammered and stonewalled in meeting this threat head on. His

coalition of nations to defeat ISIS is in name only. America, so far, has led the bombing assault on isolated sites with coalition members adding salt and pepper raids not helping with the more meaty targets. Our national media has hyped up the threat this newest terrorist group projects. Massively small in numbers, ISIS is more bark than bite. Successful media campaigns to keep Muslim hysteria alive has worked for thirteen years but ISIS, as a threat, does not come near the intensity of that posed by Ebola.

 

Ebola is coming our way. This twenty first century plague will not be contained by speeches or minor gestures from World governments. Hot zones where the virus is flourishing need to be quickly quarantined. Obama’s decision to send 3,000 American troops into the area is nothing less than suicide for many of these brave folks. Once the body captures the virus there is a 50 to 90% fatality rate. No cure presently exists. Hospitals in affected areas have few doctors and personnel. Most have left knowing their lives were at risk. Ebola has mutated many times. Suggestive evidence exists a respiratory component to its transmission is not far behind. Ebola will reach our shores because of the blind-sided actions of our central government. Tens of thousands of visas have been issued to Africans to visit the United States. Many are student visas. Others are for business or vacations. Strong possibilities exist that a few will bring this vermin with them. Unbeknownst to the American Public more infected souls have been brought into the country for treatment than we have been told. With porous borders the potential spread may be amplified by multiples. Ebola is similar to ISIS, the virus has no heart or soul. Yet its virulence is exponentially worse than the scourge ISIS brings to the battlefield. Bad policies, bad politics and insurmountable incompetence will bring ISIS home to roost. Best case scenario a few minds will come to grips with reality concerning this disease and provide a proportional response. As of this writing ISIS is finally receiving the attention it deserves, Ebola is not.

 

Mark Davis MD, President of Davis Writing Services. Author of Obamacare Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster and Demons of Democracy.

www.daviswritingservices.com platomd@gmail.com