Ebola: Are You Concerned?
There is so much in the news today about Ebola. I asked myself, the other day, how concerned am I? I'm going to be traveling quite a bit this winter, by air, and that is the part that concerns me. I know so many people who, after flying on an airplane, get sick with different respiratory illnesses. According to the CDC approximately 20% of all travelers incur an upper respiratory infection and it's the viral pathogen respiratory infection that's the most common. Here is a list of causative agents: Thinovirus, respiratory synctial virus, influenza virus, human metapneumovirus, adenovirus and coronavirus. Legionella pneumophila and coxiella burnetii can also cause outbreaks of a respiratory illness. To make matters worse for us snowbirds the best (or worse?) time of the year to travel is December through February. In the southern hemisphere the peak flu season is June through August. If you travel to a tropical zone you are at risk a...