Even though the medical charity Doctors without Borders said
that Ebola outbreak is out of control in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Jay
Keystone from University of Toronto said that there are far worse diseases out
there, such as malaria and cholera.
Ebola kills hundreds of people in West Africa this year, but
WHO says that malaria kills 1.2 million people, and cholera kills
100,000-120,000 people annually. Nonetheless, malaria and cholera can be cured,
so mortality rate is really low, while Ebola is death sentence disease showing
up to 90% fatality rate, no known cures or vaccines.
Although Ebola is little threat to travellers, I have to be
really careful to limit my movement in Sierra Leone and wash hands thoroughly.
I have only worried about Ebola so far, but preventing malaria and cholera is
also important for me to practice health
maintenance. Should I say good-bye to street food…?
The ways of transmission of
disease are various, through food and water (E-coli traveller’s diarrhea,
hepatitis A), insect (malaria, dengue fever), air (measles, Tuberculosis), and
bodily fluid/blood (Ebola, Lassa, HIV).
Blessedly, Ebola is not an air-borne
disease. Like HIV, Ebola virus is transmitted by bodily fluids or blood.
Another blood-transmitted diseases, Lassa hemorrhagic fever, is way more serous
disease that kills 10,000 people every year.
The result? Of course, Ebola
is a fearsome disease, but there are so many diseases that we have to be
cautious. Mass media attracts people in the world by sending breaking news
about Ebola, and I may also be terror-stricken, but I can surely prevent Ebola. There are so many diseases that I have not even heard, and those diseases kills people. Ebola is emerging but temporary disease that we can develop treatment and vaccine in the near future.
Reference: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/guinea-s-ebola-outbreak-there-are-far-worse-diseases-out-there-1.2585797
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