Ebola on nightline

[Ed Rybicki]

> From:          mvanalst at rbi.com (Mark Van Alstine)
> Subject:       Re: Ebola on nightline

> In article <95135.093626JOHND at SJUVM.BITNET>, <JOHND at SJUVM.BITNET> wrote:
> 
> > How can they say its unlikely to spread to the U.S? It wouldnt
> > surprise me in the least to find that someone is already on a
...

> How can they say it is unlikely to spread to the U.S.? Well, because it
> _is_ unlikely to spread to the U.S.! 
...
> 
> About the only way I could think it could possibly be transmitted to the
> U.S. would be for an infected person to quickly jump on an international
> flight to the U.S. How many Africans can afford the airfare when their
> annual income if many times less then the cost of a ticket? The only other
> reasonable way, I would guess, for transmitting it would be for an
> infected foreign health care worker to jump on a international flight. It
> is my assumption, from past happenings, that such _possible_ infected
> health care workers (Or foreign nationals?) are evacuated with great care
> and usually placed in immediate quarantine... 

...and from the huge contingent of foreign journalists on the 
death-watch in Kikwit and Kinshasa, who seem to have no respect for 
or understanding of the word "quarantine" - and who the Zairean 
government is now apparently insiting on quarantining in their 
hotels/in the Hotel Intercontinental in Kinshasa.  Until, of course, 
they bribe their way out.

 ______________________________________________________
 |     Ed Rybicki, PhD      |  ed at molbiol.uct.ac.za   |
 |    Dept Microbiology     | University of Cape Town |
 | Private Bag, Rondebosch  |   7700, South Africa    |
 |   fax: x27-21-650 4023   | phone: x27-21-650-3265  |
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   "And the man in the suit has just bought a new car
      From the profit he's made on your dreams..."