The recent events surrounding Dr. Craig Spencer demonstrate
these three qualities—The Good where a physician goes into battle in Africa
against the Ebola epidemic; The Bad where this same physician does not self
isolate/quarantine; and The Ugly where our local, state and national elected
officials and their appointees hide behind arrogance, political correctness and
fear about loosing votes refusing to do their common sense duty to protect the
people in the U.S., particularly the nurses, and the people in Africa and
around the world.
The Good: By volunteering to serve in the Ebola
epidemic regions to care for victims of this disease Dr. Craig Spencer has shown
great courage; he knew he would have direct contact with sick and dying patients
with the Ebola virus. These dying
patients were covered with infectious Ebola virus. Out of every body opening a
flood of Ebola infectious particles was pouring, and Dr. Craig Spencer was up
to his elbows in this Ebola liquid. I am
awed by his bravery and of all volunteers who knowing put themselves in great
peril for humanity. For these acts of
courage and commitment to their profession we owe these health workers our
respect and gratitude.
The Bad: By returning from the epicenter of the Ebola
epidemic after being exposed to copious amounts of Ebola and Ebola fluids to
the uninfected world without self-isolation/quarantine Dr. Craig Spencer has
show a great disrespect for the potential harm where he may have been exposing
people in uninfected countries. While it
is true that Dr. Craig Spencer reportedly followed all of the guidelines
created by the organization Physicians Without Boarders (PWB), these guidelines
are as much political as they are scientific and Dr. Craig Spencer as a
physician should have known this. The
guidelines of the group PWB take into account the discouraging effect that a
21-day forced quarantine would have on volunteers and have compromised the
science for the sake of attracting volunteers.
This is simply unacceptable. If
one is planning to volunteer to help the Ebola victims they must also commit
themselves not to contaminate uninfected countries by becoming a carrier of the
Ebola virus. The only way we currently
know to halt the spread of Ebola is isolation and quarantine for 21 days and
these Ebola volunteers need to take this simple but critical step to protect
the rest of the world. These physicians
and nurses are far too smart not to know that the PWB guidelines are
insufficient and they need to do the right thing. Dr. Craig Spencer did not do the right thing,
not only did he travel from the epidemic to New York, stopping in Brussels,
taking multiple planes and contacting many people once in New York, he
continued to lead a normal lifestyle, visiting friends, taking the subway,
eating in restaurants and visiting a bowling alley.
The Ugly: Our local, state and national elected
officials and their appointees have not done their most important sworn duty--protect
the citizens of the United States. This
is not mystery-- it is all common sense.
There are only two weapons we currently have to stem the Ebola epidemic:
Isolation and Quarantine. By simply
banning all commercial travel from the epidemic regions and surrounding countries
we would dramatically reduce the chances of spreading the infection to the U.S. By imposing a mandatory 21-day pre-flight
waiting period between visa application and flight permission we would further
reduce the risk of infected persons from entering the U.S. to almost “0”. Everyone knows this, yet our officials do
nothing but ineffective window dressing.
Taking the temperature of deplaning passengers is ineffective for most
Ebola carriers and asking questions is foolhardy. So why don't our officials take the simple
and effective steps known to work?
Political concern is the obvious answer—these officials are betting on
us getting lucky and being able to contain any Ebola that enterers our country
rather than take the politically correct heat generated by taking the
appropriate actions. Yesterday N.Y. and
N.J. began a semi-quarantine program for heath workers returning from the
epidemic regions—bravo—several months too late and just a half measure. Obama has a photo op with the recovered
nurse—bravo making political points over a complete policy failure. I prey that we will continue to be lucky,
perhaps our politicians should re-read Profiles In Courage and drop the
grandstanding. We are not fooled.
Steven Keller, Ph.D. Professor
New Jersey Medical School—Rutgers New Jersey
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