THERE IS one confirmed case of Ebola virus in the United States. Given the fact that there is no marketed vaccine for the disease, that's definite cause for concern.
But perspective is needed. A virus affecting one man in a country with about 318 million people is no reason for panic or irrational fears.
Still, given the fact that Ebola is contagious and can at times be fatal, reasonable precautions are warranted. We didn't see that last week in Dallas, when a man with what turned out to be Ebola was sent home from a hospital emergency room. That happened even though the man told hospital officials he had traveled to the United States from West Africa, where the disease is widespread.
The man returned to the hospital three days later — this time by ambulance — after he began vomiting and became gravely ill. Ebola symptoms include aches, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain.
After the man's Ebola diagnosis was confirmed, he was put in isolation, where he is in stable but serious condition. Meanwhile, a team of federal health officials began tracking and monitoring every person who had come in contact with the stricken man. That initially included 12 to 18 people but has now been expanded to include as many as 100, including five school-age children.
Knowing that the disease is ravaging West Africa, hospitals and other health professionals must examine ill patients for Ebola if they were recently in that part of the world. Screening airline passengers coming from that region also seems reasonable but may not be effective; it can take as long as 21 days for Ebola symptoms to appear.
Ebola was first detected in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. The latest outbreak surfaced in West Africa in March. Since then, the disease has killed at least 3,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. Ebola is highly infectious, in that a small amount of the virus can cause an illness. But it is not as contagious as such diseases as measles or influenza, which are transmitted through the air. Humans can be infected with Ebola if they come in contact with bodily fluids from an infected person or contaminated objects from infected people.
Like all relatively new diseases, Ebola comes with mystery and a certain amount of fear. That's understandable, but there is no cause for panic. To date, there is only one Ebola case in the United States.