Ebola doesn’t discriminate neither should medical personnel

Video Credit:  CNN via YouTube

This is the question that I hate to ask, but it really needs to be addressed.  What is going on with the treatment for the Ebola virus?  Can it be that the treatment is melanin-resistant?  And the reason I’m asking is that the outcomes for those treated were so drastically different.

Thomas Eric Duncan presented himself at Texas Presbyterian Hospital on September 25, 2014, and was sent home even after he told medical personnel that he had traveled from Liberia.  Yes, the same Liberia that has been in the spotlight all over the world due to the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus and its possible global implications if it isn’t contained.

Then when he went back to the hospital, by this time terribly ill, days went by before he was given an experimental treatment.  Oddly, two humanitarian workers who contracted the Ebola virus while working in Liberia were treated with an experimental drug almost immediately when they were flown back to the United States.  Both workers’ health improved after the treatment.

Both of them were on a noble mission risking their lives to help others, both were going over and above the c all of duty, both received top-notch medical treatment, and both just happened to be white.  If, even in the onset of a possible universal outbreak, color cannot be put aside, race relations are in an even more deplorable state then we knew.

Let us keep those suffering with this virus, as well as their family and friends, in our prayers.  And let us all take this opportunity to remember that people are people and we should all be afforded the same quality of care in the time of illness.  I thank you.

Protesters looted Ebola clinic; patients and possibly contaminated items missing

Authorities fighting Ebola virus, as well as looters. (photo credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

Fear can cause people to go to extreme measures to protect themselves.  But sometimes those actions can backfire, potentially manifesting what was feared in the first place.  CNN is reporting today that angry young men attacked a facility in Liberia housing patients being treated for the Ebola virus.  The attack occurred on Saturday and is a sign of the violence that ignorance can spur.  Fortunately, in this case, no one was hurt, at least not during the melee.

The facility is located in the West Point area of Monrovia.  The invasion led to many of the patients panicking and fleeing the clinic.  This was one of the worse things that could have happened, because they can now possibly contaminate others they come in contact with.  According to George Williams, head of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, “Of the 29 patients, 17 fled last night (after the assault). Nine died four days ago and three others were yesterday taken by force by their relatives.”  Those 17, as of Monday, are still considered missing.  (Continue reading full story here.)