Ebola virus. Something to worry about?                               

            It’s unlikely that we will ever face a worldwide plague as frightening as the Black Death of the Middle Ages but media accounts of diseases like that caused by the Ebola virus catch our attention. In 2014 thousands of persons became infected by the Ebola virus in the several West African countries. The good news is that there are several reasons why Ebola, a disease with a mortality rate of up to 90 percent, will not spread like influenza, for instance.

            Except for two Russian scientists who died as a result of laboratory accidents, the Ebola virus has caused disease only in Africa, and only in areas where living conditions are primitive. Victims are likely to have eaten infected bats, monkeys or other primates. Person-to-person spread has occurred where sanitation, even in hospitals, is poor. Some primitive health care facilities have re-used needles that were contaminated with the blood of infected patients. These conditions simply do not exist in the United States. Of course, rapid air travel from Africa could potentially allow a victim who has not yet shown signs of disease to arrive here and it has already happened. However, the virus does not float through the air of an aircraft cabin; contact with body fluids is almost always how it finds another victim.

            To keep things in perspective, the risk of acquiring some other viral infection is much more likely. West Nile Virus, another infectious agent that migrated here from Africa, has caused hundreds of deaths since it arrived in 1999. Most of its victims develop few if any symptoms but the very young, the very old and persons whose immune system has been compromised may become seriously ill or die.

            There are several things that you can do to maintain a healthy immune system and thus lower your risk of any infection. Avoid junk food, reduce your intake of all forms of sugar, eat plenty of vegetables and fish and exercise nearly every day. These steps will also help you to avoid obesity and diabetes, which are much greater risks than most viruses.

            West Nile Virus and other agents that cause serious illness such as encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain with devastating consequences, are transmitted by mosquitoes. Avoiding the bite of these critters is fairly easy and effective. (See our column in March 2013, www.stoneagedoc.com, Archived articles)

            Is Ebola virus something to worry about? Now now!