Ebola is a deadly disease; the survival rate is around 30 percent for patients with the diagnosis; and health officials say the current outbreak in West Africa is the worst they’ve ever seen.
You can’t catch it through the air, but by the exchange of body fluids from an infected person. But many people with Ebola don’t know if they have it – because symptoms don’t show up for up to three weeks.
“When you’re dealing with people who don’t have symptoms, and then they have symptoms one day – it just brings a heightened alert that we need to be very cautious,” said Dr. Swannie Jett, Florida Department of Health.
But what are the chances the outbreak could make its way to the U.S. – and to Central Florida through an international flight?
Officials at Orlando International Airport say the have not received any warnings by the CDC, probably because there are no direct flights from Africa to the airport. And they point out that all flights out of the outbreak region have been canceled.
The CDC is advising people against travel to West Africa until further notice, and the U.S. Peace Corp has pulled hundreds of Americans from the affected countries.
Two Americans with the Peace Corp in contact with an Ebola patient are now quarantined.
Karen Biraimah, UCF’s Director of International Programs, is flying to Africa next Wednesday.
“I’m concerned because even though I’m headed to the southern part of Africa, this can follow you so quickly. We’re dealing with a large population that does not understand health, these kinds of epidemics,” said Biraimah.
Florida health officials say even in the unlikely case that the virus would spread to the U.S., it would not go very far.
“If anyone were to contract Ebola, we would respond immediately,” said Dr. Jett.