Hot Topic: Should We Be Worried About an Ebola Outbreak in the U.S.?

The dreaded Ebola virus has finally arrived on American shores. The first confirmed case — a man who returned from Liberia on September 19 — is being treated in Dallas.

Authorities are confident there is nothing to be concerned about:

This person who is infected left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in the U.S. the following day to visit family in this country. The person, who was not identified, had no symptoms at the time and began showing symptoms about four days after arriving in the U.S.

“The bottom line here is that I have no doubt that we will control this importation, or this case of Ebola, so that it does not spread widely in this country,” he said. “It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks. But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”

Why were we allowing anyone from Liberia — a country where the virus is out of control — into the U.S.? Health workers in the U.S. have far more resources and protections against spreading the virus than any nation in Africa, but how can they be so certain about containing the spread of the disease?

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