Until we are prepared, outbound flights from Ebola-ridden countries should stop.
NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Dr. David Samadi is taking a stand. With a second healthcare worker from Dallas now infected with the Ebola virus, Dr. Samadi, chairman of urology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, is urging that outbound flights from West African countries dealing with the Ebola epidemic stay grounded until the rest of the world can prepare to deal with the deadly virus.
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"Until we get our emergency rooms ready, until we get our acts ready, until we can understand how this virus spreads, I would tell you Mr. President to put up those walls and control the flights out of those countries," said Dr. Samadi, during a segment of "Sunday Housecall," a weekly medical show on Fox News, where he is a medical contributor. See the segment at http://video.foxnews.com/v/3835483688001
Ebola, previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus strains, according to the Center for Disease Control. Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, outbreaks have appeared sporadically in Africa.
The natural reservoir host of Ebola virus remains unknown. It is believed that that virus is animal-borne and that bats are the most likely reservoir.
The Center for Disease Control first announced the 2014 outbreak of Ebola within West Africa on March 25, 2014. After seeing the spread of the disease the United States Department of Human and Health Services contracted with Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. to develop and manufacture ZMapp, an experimental biopharmaceutical drug comprising three humanized monoclonal antibodies under development as a treatment for Ebola virus disease.
The National Institutes for Health and the U.S. Department of Defense are working with companies to develop vaccines as well as drug therapies to treat Ebola.
"I am not trying to put panic into people, but my job as a physician is to educate, contain and treat," said Dr. Samadi. "We have to protect Americans and we need to minimize our risk of exposure until the resources we need to contain and treat this virus are available. Given the fact that there is currently no antiviral meds or vaccines available and we are dealing with a virus that can kill 70 to 90 percent of patients, we need to ban the flights out of West Africa."
He added. "The CDC did a great job at keeping SARS under control. They educated people on the importance of wearing a mask and the World Health Organization even advised against all but essential travel to Toronto. We need to consider similar steps now so we can make sure our hospitals are prepared and our healthcare workers, who will be the most at risk of coming into direct contact with the Ebola virus, are properly trained and vaccinated."
Contact:
Faith Ann Butcher
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