The news in America was joyful. Two brave American health professionals, Dr. Keith Brantly and Nancy Writebol, flown to the United States after they fell ill with the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, walked out of the hospital last week. Doctors say they have been cured.
Many patients weren't so lucky in Liberia, New Guinea and Sierra Leone, where fear, ignorance and a rudimentary public health system have been just as lethal as the deadly disease. West Africans and the world must deal with these issues as the virus' death toll in the region rises over 1,000.
Unfounded fears of Ebola aren't unique to Africans. A recent Harvard School of Public Health poll showed that many Americans don't understand how the disease is spread.
However, a lack of information about the deadly disease, spread by close contact with blood, vomit and other secretions, is deadly at ground zero in West Africa. Sadly, some West Africans don't even think that the disease exists.
Health officials there must do a better job educating people about Ebola and the world must help these suffering countries get medical supplies and recruit volunteer health professionals. …
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, Aug. 24