THE threat of the realities regarding the spread of the virus Ebola has been captured in two recently written contributions by David Jessop and SCG News.The Executive Director of the Caribbean Council David Jessop opened his ‘View from Europe’ article in Sunday Stabroek October 12, 2014 thus: “The first thing to be said about the Ebola crisis is that the region should be very proud that among the first to fully understand the seriousness of the threat and respond has been a Caribbean Nation, Cuba.
It, almost alone in the world, recognised early the extent of the potential crisis we all face if the epidemic is left unchecked. Continuing, Jessop spent some considerable time outlining Cuba’s support in relation to Ebola, which is a reflection of that Nation’s unsung acts of humanitarian support and deep commitment to Africa. Its involvement in the 1970s in helping end colonialism and ultimately apartheid there; and its continuing commitment to education and health care across the continent is exemplary.
Emphasising the amount of assistance being extended to Africa by way of medical and military initiatives, Mr. Jessop feels that the effects of the Ebola crisis should give the region pause for thought and to regard that it, too, must prepare.
As the totally unfounded recent scares in the Bahamas and Jamaica; and sometimes irresponsible media have demonstrated, it would not take much on a small island to, at the very least, induce panic, destroy the Caribbean’s tourism industry, and spark an exodus of those best able to afford to leave. One only has to look at the way in which visitor arrivals have fallen in parts of Africa, and the huge amounts that have been wiped off the share values of international tour operators and airlines, to understand the very real economic danger the Caribbean could face if the virus were in any way to touch the region.
On the other report, for whatever it’s worth, in the name of SCG News is somewhat most vehement that as at September 30th there is something very, very important that the corporate media and public health officials are not telling you regarding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
SCG News in its release is somewhat emphatic that the virus Ebola is airborne; in other words, they insist that the virus travels through air. Right now in West Africa the worst Ebola outbreak in history is in full swing and is jumping borders at an alarming rate. Already it has spread to four countries, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and now Nigeria. This latest jump into Nigeria is particularly serious since the infected individual carried the virus by plane to Lagos Nigeria, a city with a population of over 21 million. Doctors without Borders has referred to the outbreak as “out of control”.
According to SCG News a study, conducted in 2012 showed that Ebola was able to travel between pigs and monkeys that were in separate cages and were never placed in direct contact.

(By David Degroot)