Ebola, Spanish Flu, and Us

摘要

As a service, we pride our-selves in being always ready, ever present, and prepared as best we can. Part of that preparation needs to be an understanding of the potential for disaster, disease, and . terrorism to affect our community and those we have sworn to protect and serve. Firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics were all watching the news in Dallas recently when a Dallas Fire Department paramedic unit became involved in the current Ebola issue here in the United States. Ebola has always been tremendously feared, and rightfully so: It is a devastating and deadly disease. But until the death of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, no one in the United States had ever died of Ebola or, until the two nurses became infected, had contracted the disease here. Much is known about the disease and yet there is still much more to learn. There is hope for a new treatment involving, of all things, tobacco, but the process to create it takes six months, and the need for it appears to be growing as this editorial is being written.