This week, Nigeria was confirmed Ebola free. In Dallas the first round of people that came into contact with Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan are free from quarantine. But the concerns about the virus are far from over. Here’s KJZZ commentator Dr. Joseph Sirven.
If you were to listen in on my recent patient visits, you’d hear this:
“I have a headache. Do you think this could be West Nile virus?"
"My friend just came back from Dallas. She’s sick, and now I feel numbness. Do you think any chance this could be Ebola?"
Like measuring the age of a forest by tree rings, infectious diseases often serve as a timeline of my career as a neurologist. This month Ebola; two years ago SARS; three years ago flu pandemic; years before that HIV; and so on…into eternity.
Modern medicine offers so many advances and yet time and time again I’m reminded that we live in a sea of microbes and we only survive by the mercy of our immune system which finds a way if we’re lucky to coexist with the scariest of creatures. Bottom line, humans haven’t found a way to win the war of man versus germs.
Naively, our health systems for containing infectious diseases are based on an honor code, reporting symptoms to the right folks, telling your doctors the truth, being honest with officials, and then hoping that scientists can find a cure in time. This is not a fail-safe method.
Let me tell you a personal story. A few years ago during the SARS scare, I was traveling from Southeast Asia on a medical lecture trip. I started to feel feverish with a sore throat. As I was changing planes and transiting through immigration, South Korean officials flashed one of those infrared thermometers at me. I prayed that I could continue my journey undetected so that I would not be quarantined. I just wanted to get home! Desperately, I gulped a drink with ice with the hope of cheating the system. Although nothing happened and my illness turned out to be a run-of-the-mill cold, the experience taught me how the isolation of travel can cloud your thinking and the fear it engenders often leads to poor choices.
So as we face yet another horrible germ, one that could define our current medical generation, I realize that more than ever the vaccine we all desperately need now is one that immunizes us from fear.
Dr. Joseph Sirven is a KJZZ commentator and the Chairman of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic.