The Ebola virus is unlikely to cause a deadly epidemic in the United States, according to David Sanders, an associate professor of biological science at Purdue University.
"The panic is, in fact, worse than the disease. It is unlikely to spread here and even if it did, Western containment should be sufficient to prevent it from spreading rapidly," Sanders said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"If you're using protective gear for all of the health workers that come in contact with the patient, it should be able to … [prevent] spreading because it does spread currently by contact with bodily fluids.
"We know how to prevent that. We have successfully treated the patients who have been brought over from Africa," Sanders said.
Sanders, also an American Cancer Society research scholar, said the risk for travelers contracting and spreading the disease exists — but can be dealt with.
"It could certainly happen that we do have people who are exposed and they don't know it and they can potentially spread it to other people," he said.
"We can identify those people very rapidly and we can also make sure that it doesn't spread. It turns out that one of the things about Ebola is it doesn't spread until you have visible symptoms."
Symptoms, which begin a few days after the virus is contracted, include fever, muscle pain, and sore throat.
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