Richard Moore: Tough action needed in Ebola outbreak

The Ebola scare has spread across the world to places such as Madrid, Spain. Photo / AP

As the world slowly awakens to the dangers posed by Ebola, it strikes me that people and governments have been way too casual in their attitude towards what could be the biggest killer since the Spanish flu in 1918-1919.

That pandemic infected upwards of 500 million people around the globe and killed from 50 million to 100 million or between 3 and 5 per cent of the world's population at the time. By contrast, Aids has killed an estimated 30 million people.

I lost one of my relatives to Spanish flu, he was a soldier returning home from World War I.

Ebola is far more virulent than that flu and, while it was contained in remote areas of west Africa, it posed a local danger but one that could be controlled.

As soon as one infected person took it out of the containment zones then, like a bad horror story, the killer genie was let out of the bottle and who knows when, or if, it can be put back.

The current outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

So far more than 4000 people have died, almost all in west Africa, but the disease has now resulted in deaths in Spain and the United States.

Those First World deaths were of health workers who had become infected by contact with an Ebola patient.

And let's remind ourselves, the average death rate of a person stricken with ebola is 50 per cent.

In actual numbers that could be anything between 25 and 90 per cent of victims dying.

There is no proven treatment for the virus, although one US doctor survived with the help of experimental drugs.

In other words, Ebola is not something we want to spread any further than it already has.

I believe there are ways to deal with the potential epidemic of death that follows in Ebola's wake and, while they are relatively simple, they won't thrill everyone.

• Firstly, countries without Ebola should shut the doors to passengers who have been in Ebola-hit nations, particularly in west Africa.

• Secondly, stop medical people from non-affected nations - such as Australia, NZ, the US or Europe - from going to west Africa to help out.

It may seem harsh, but this outbreak has shown how quickly it can spread to faraway countries. And while I admire the courage of health workers whose spirits are as generous as their work is, the dangers their returns have for their home countries are not worth the risk.

• Thirdly, if they do decide to risk their lives by going to help in west Africa, they should not be allowed to return to their home nations until a full quarantine period of 21 days has passed.

It may be harsh, but lax quarantine regulations and bleeding hearts could release Ebola worldwide and that would be utterly catastrophic.

And I do have questions on border security when the screening just seems to consist of being asked if you have travelled to any affected countries in recent times. Some countries are now introducing a swipe with a wand to detect if a passenger has a temperature and ... therefore ... is possibly infectious.

But, really, is that enough?

Can we take the risk?

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Oh my gosh wasn't that a supremely exciting Bathurst 1000 on Sunday?

Fair go, I was on the edge of the sofa as the cars zoomed around corners at hundreds of kilometres an hour.

Despite being a Ford supporter - courtesy of them sponsoring my beloved Geelong footy club - I really didn't care who won the race, as far as I was concerned whoever won deserved it.

Jamie Whincup had made an astounding comeback and looked liked taking the chequered flag. His team were screaming at him to watch his fuel levels, but he was out for glory and ignored them. With less than half a lap to go his challenge evaporated as his fuel did and his Holden lost power and rolled into fifth place.

The eventual winner was young Ford star Chaz Mostert, with co-driver Paul Morris, who began the day in the last place on the grid but drove superbly to win the ultimate V8 touring car race in only his second outing.

Mostert, 22, is a star of the future no doubt about.

A fabulous day's entertainment and an astonishing win.

richard@richardmoore.com

• Richard Moore is an award-winning Western Bay journalist and photographer.