West Africa may be filled with Ebola-related deaths, but in the United States, medical treatments show the virus is hardly as horrific.
The statistics speak loud and clear: In Africa, 70 percent infected with Ebola die, the Los Angeles Times reported. But of the seven who have been treated in the United States for Ebola, one has died. The other six have successfully been treatment, the newspaper said.
“It’s not a death sentence,” said Michael Buchmeier, a virologist at UC Irvine in the Los Angeles Times. “It’s a beatable disease.”
His comments came on the heels of nurse Amber Vinson’s release from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta — the sixth to recover in the United States. Ms. Vinson and fellow nurse Nina Pham were infected while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian patient, at Dallas’ Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Mr. Duncan died at the Dallas hospital after contracting the disease in Liberia.
Ms. Vinson referred to the massive divide in survival rates between American and West Africa as she left the hospital.
“While this is a day for celebration and gratitude, I ask that we not lose focus on the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in West Africa,” she said, the Los Angeles Times reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.