In centuries past, little understood diseases spread virulently, wiping out millions of people before being contained. Today, thanks to modern medicine, potentially lethal but preventable and curable diseases such as the bubonic plague are rarely seen.
Alongside advances in medicine are advances in mass transportation that have turned the planet into a global village. The ease of international travel, however, also means ease in spreading disease-causing organisms. And those organisms can be highly adaptable, mutating into forms that are immune to existing treatment and highly infectious. In the past decade, the world has battled SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and more potent strains of avian flu, and is still fighting MERS or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
Now the World Health Organization has declared an international emergency in one of the worst outbreaks of the deadly Ebola. The outbreak has affected more than 1,700 people and claimed the lives of nearly a thousand, mostly in Africa, including health workers.
The Philippines, with a tenth of its population working all over the world, is vulnerable. Philippine health authorities have responded well to previous international health threats including SARS and AH1N1, and the public has cooperated in undertaking preventive measures. Ebola will require even more stringent measures in monitoring risks. An individual showing little or no symptoms of the hemorrhagic fever upon arrival from overseas can deteriorate rapidly into the highly infectious and critical stage.
Health authorities have assured the public that diagnostic and quarantine facilities are ready and the nation is equipped to deal with Ebola. Public cooperation is also of utmost importance. Previous viral outbreaks have largely spared the Philippines. That wasn’t because Filipinos have a natural immunity to viral ailments, as people like to joke, but because of preparedness and efficient preventive measures.