By MARVA HOLTOM
Student Reporter
The Ebola virus has taken thousands of African lives and is still having a huge impact on the population.
So far, the virus has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa. Americans have never thought about this virus and how it could impact them simply because it wasn’t happening in the United States and directly affecting the lives around them.
Ebola has now made its way into Dallas via a man who travelled from West Africa to the United States. Some speculate that the man infected with the Ebola virus was not contagious because he wasn’t showing any symptoms until a couple of days after arriving in Dallas. Officials for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the virus does not become a threat until the host carrying the virus starts to show symptoms. The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids and can live on the surface of the skin for maybe a couple of days, but that is unlikely since the virus is sensitive to light, heat, and low humidity.
It is fairly easy to get rid of the virus with a simple disinfectant like that available on airplanes and other places. The CDC said it is unlikely that anyone on the plane with the infected man from Dallas contracted the virus. Although it is possible, and the CDC is doing contact tracing, it is still very unlikely that anyone would have contracted it because of the light sensitivity the virus has.
Northwestern Oklahoma State University has many students from the Dallas area that attend school here in Alva. Chelsie Wood, 22, a Northwestern student from Dallas, said, “Yes, I am worried about this virus and how easily it can spread from one person to another.” Wood still has family that attends college in the Dallas area, which makes her feel a bit nervous considering the virus is so close to home.
The Dallas patient now being treated at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is under strict confinement until officials are sure the virus is completely gone. People that the patient has come into contact with, such as his family, are also being confined to their household for 21 days to be monitored, which is the normal incubation period to make sure that no one has contracted the virus or shows any symptoms.
A sophomore Northwestern student, Cori Hoffman, 20, who lives in Houston, said, “This is terrifying to think about it being so close to home and how it could affect my family.” Hoffman also has family very close to Dallas and is worried that the CDC may not have the virus under control and that there could be more of an outbreak than officials are saying.
Surprisingly, there are actually three other infections that are more dangerous than Ebola — influenza, staphylococcus aureus and resistant gonorrhea. Drugs are available to treat all three, but scientists have yet to find an Ebola cure.