US widens Ebola vigil in secret
‘Half-dozen’ more tested for killer virus: report
As health officials downplay concerns about an Ebola outbreak in the United States, about six people have been quietly tested across the country for the deadly virus, according to a report.
In addition to patients isolated in New York, Atlanta and Ohio, six other patients were tested without the public’s knowledge, according to a CNN report. The tests were negative. “There have been about a half a dozen patients who have had their blood tested because of concern. Those particular patients, their stories were not made public,” said CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
City and state health department officials said that only one patient has been tested for the disease in New York. He has been isolated since Monday at Mount Sinai Hospital, and results could come back Wednesday.
“The patient, who remains in isolation, was stable overnight and in good spirits,” a hospital statement said.
“No other patients have presented with similar symptoms and travel history to West Africa. We will continue to work closely with federal, state and city health officials to address and monitor this case, keep the community informed and provide the bestquality care to all of our patients.”
The Mount Sinai case has other hospital patients on edge.
“I’m kind of suspect about going in here right now,” said Willie Westone, 37, of Harlem, who brought his 6yearold son to the emergency room with a stomach bug.
“A guy walks in here with Ebola. I’m not a fan of this . . . but my son needs medicine. I’m trying to get his paperwork transferred. I can’t take any risks like this.”
Medical teams have been on high alert since a missionary working in Liberia contracted the disease and came to the United States for treatment.
Kent Brantly, 33, a doctor, was immediately isolated in an Atlanta hospital Saturday. A second Ebolastricken worker, nurse Nancy Writebol, 59, was isolated in the same ward Tuesday.
Officials said the two both showed improvement after being treated with an experimental drug that had been tested only with mice.
Additional reporting by Antonio Antenucci
WE’RE now witnessing the worst Ebola epidemic ever — and on your list of worries it belongs . . . nowhere. Here’s a rule of thumb about diseases: The rarer and less likely they are to kill you, the more hype they get. The New York Times ran more than 2,000 articles on SARS, which ultimately killed zero Americans.
This is only the deadliest outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease because past ones were so tiny. At this writing, there have been 1,603 reported cases in Africa and 887 deaths.
That’s too many. But every day about 600 subSaharan Africans die of tuberculosis, and contagious diarrhea claims the lives of 2,195 children, the vast majority of them in subSaharan Africa. Malaria, syphilis, AIDS and probably dozens of other diseases each year kill Africans at higher rates than Ebola is killing right now.
And, should Ebola come to America, it’s vanishingly unlikely to “break out.”
Ebola is a lazy spreader. A cough, sneeze or sweat from an “active” case is harmless. Spreading the virus requires contact with large doses of bodily secretions such as blood or vomit.
That’s why the proportion of fatalities among healthcare workers is exceptionally high in Africa, thereby making the illness seem more frightening. After all, they’re specialists. But in the ramshackle clinics these heroic folks have to work in, they often lack the most basic protective equipment.
Consider: In over four months since the latest Ebola outbreak was identified in Guinea, it has spread to only three other countries — all in subSaharan Africa. Flu can spread to three new countries in a day.
Ebola “outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests,” reports the World Health Organization. Sound like Midtown Manhattan to you?
Nor is this virus nearly as lethal as you generally read, with that “up to 90 percent mortality.” That “up to” is a giveaway: In fact, in the current outbreak, 55 percent of identified victims have died; still not great, but again we’re talking about poor villages with almost no healthcare resources.
There’s no specific treatment for Ebola any more than there is for the common cold, but simple hydration with electrolytes and bed rest put the odds in your favor. That’s what we’ve seen with other diseases such as SARS, where (aside from an unexplained occurrence in Canada) virtually all deaths were in the Third World.
Nor does infection even mean an active case. Vincent Racaniello, a Columbia University virologist, says blood testing for antibodies indicates the vast majority of people infected with Ebola probably have no symptoms, or had extremely mild ones.
It’s only the worst cases that wind up being counted. Surprise: Those cases have the highest death rate.
The only American killed by the Ebola virus worked in one of those four African countries and died there. Another American known to be infected there, Dr. Kent Brantly, was flown to Atlanta (Yes, Ebola finally made it here!) and appears to be recovering nicely. A third American patient has just returned.
What might the US death rate be, should the virus somehow spread here? “You are always go ing to lose some, so it’s probably not zero,” Racaniello told me, “but substantially less than 5090 percent.”
The real threat Ebola poses is as an attention hound. It was the subject of the nonfiction bestseller “The Hot Zone” and the basis of the pathogen in the movie “Outbreak.”
Thing is, attention hounds suck finite funds away from more serious threats. (Another current hog: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which has killed fewer than 300 people since first identified two years ago.)
One dollar invested in diarrhea prevention yields an average return of $25.50, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Syphilis infects almost 2 million pregnant women yearly, killing perhaps 250,000 babies and blinding and crippling many more. It’s easily diagnosed and cheaply treated — yet that’s obviously not happening. We need a vaccine, but the United States has none in human trials. US trials for an Ebola vaccine began 11 years ago.
And if you must worry about a new plague, focus on antibioticresistant bugs like MRSA and C. diff — and start asking why we’re not developing new antibiotics to fight these ills.
Let’s worry less about greasing squeaky wheels, and more about prioritizing our reactions based not on films or bestsellers but on what poses the greatest threat to the greatest number.
Michael Fumento is a lawyer and journalist who specializes in mass hysteria. He lives in Colombia.