Editor: News on the Ebola virus? Not from CBC. Or any other mainstream news outlet on this continent that I know of. One has to look to foreign news outlets to even learn that a deadly outbreak of Ebola virus is even occurring in Ivory Coast, Guinea and is now entering into Liberia and Sierra Leone.
At least the National Geographic is forthcoming about the outbreak. As of April 28, their website stated: “Viral hemorrhagic fevers are perhaps the most feared and least understood of the emerging infectious diseases. Mortality rates for Marburg (another hemorrhagic disease) and Ebola viruses are astoundingly high at 70 per cent. Of all the hemorrhagic fevers, however, Ebola is the most feared. Health researchers all over the world are working hard to trace the origins of these viruses wherever outbreaks occur. It is extremely dangerous to residents and travellers alike, once it enters a population.”
So why haven’t there been any advisories from the Canadian government on this deadly outbreak? The BBC is advising travelers to use caution if heading for these countries. What’s wrong with CBC?
I accuse the Stephen Harper government and the CBC of criminal negligence in not reporting this deadly Ebola outbreak that has killed hundreds of people in four different countries and is entering into the cities of these countries.
Ebola is highly contagious. It is lethal. In 1976 and 1995, Ebola killed 83 per cent of those infected in Zaire. Those were small areas and the virus was successfully contained, but even that infection was a huge battle requiring many resources.
This time Ebola has already escaped into other countries. Why are Stephen Harper and the CBC deliberately exposing Canadians to this monstrous disease by withholding information?
Betty Krawczyk,
Vancouver