Claire Thomas
A MONTH ago Spanish nurse, Marìa Teresa Romero Ramos, contracted the Ebola virus while caring for a priest who later died of the disease.
After being treated in an isolation unit at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid, Romero has now been cleared from Ebola.
However, the deadly disease is still amongst us, and after the outbreak in the Spanish capital, the rest of the world has woken up to the threat.
It has now become common to see on the news or read in a newspaper that another country has fallen to the Ebola epidemic. A doctor from New York has become the most recent victim.
Countries are issuing many emergency health checks, but are they really that effective?
In the UK, the government has set up screening tests at Heathrow Airport for passengers on inbound flights from the west coast of Africa. Questionnaires are also being handed out to those who are feeling ill.
Why aren’t these screenings being set up in other airports? And shouldn’t the facilities be available at the ports too? If the government are that worried about the virus spreading, then special screenings need to be placed everywhere.
Security measures were put into place at Almería’s port and airport following the spread of Ebola.
Military have been deplored to Liberia and Sierra Leone to give aid, but it’s still not stopping the virus from spreading.
Over 4,000 west Africans have died and many children have become orphans due to the Ebola virus and world leaders think that by sending over aid is doing enough.
To date there has been no discovery of a cure for this deadly virus. But nurses and doctors have survived after being infected with Ebola. Take the case of Maíra Teresa Romero. She was given a drip containing antibodies of the virus which enabled her a full recovery.
Maybe if pharmaceutical companies put their hand in their pockets a discovery would be made sooner.
