Ebola

   That's it. That's the virus the entire world is talking about right now. Ebola has sickened nearly 7 thousand people in parts of Africa, and killed almost half of them. And it's now been found in North America. A man is in a Dallas, Texas hospital in serious but stable condition after contracting the virus in Liberia. He was visiting relatives in the States when he started showing symptoms.
   Health officials are now contacting anyone who may have been in extremely close contact with him during the flight, while some parents have temporarily removed their children from Dallas
schools after learning five students may have come in contact with the man.
   A lot closer to home, Saskatchewan Health officials say the risk of contracting Ebola is very low. And here's why. Unlike a cold or flu, you need to come into direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. That includes vomit, blood, sweat, saliva, feces, or urine. Should we be worried about it? Yes. Should we obsess about it? No.
   But already the knee-jerk reactions have set in. As mentioned, parents of some school kids in Dallas have pulled them from class. I hope I'm well and truly wrong about this, but the reaction to the outbreak could reach the point where flights from Africa are either banned, or people put in quarantine until the contagious period is over and/or they show no symptoms.
   What needs to be done now? That should be a no-brainer. Spending on research for a cure. We did it for smallpox, and that disease killed some 600 million people over recorded history. And with the rapid expansion of things like genomes and gene sequencing, it shouldn't take too long to come up with something to at least control any future outbreak and/or come up with a vaccine against it.
   And as scary as it is due to the mortality rate, I'm not going to "lock my doors and stay inside" because of it.

TTFN