Ebola Virus Disease or EVD has left Africa and entered the United States. In Texas, there have been two confirmed cases. The first was an individual who traveled to the U.S. from West Africa. Sadly, this first patient has died. Our heart-felt condolences are extended to the family and friends. The second case is a nurse at the hospital that treated the first patient. Hopefully, she will recover.

The hospital is in Dallas. My doctors have their offices in and around that hospital. I say this because I would not have considered going somewhere else. While visiting a friend at another hospital only a few miles away, I was told people are avoiding the first hospital with the reported cases. “Why?” I asked myself. “And, what is this Ebola?”

Ebola is a virus. A virus is a strange thing. In this case, the Ebola virus is a microscopic string or filament that often appears in the shape of a shepherd’s staff or the number “6.” It is a short tangle of genetic patterning material whose purpose is to invade, replicate and disrupt.

Once in the body, the Ebola virus sneaks into a healthy cell, confuses the cell’s manufacturing machinery, and causes the good cell to use the virus templates to produce more bad viruses. The newly constructed viruses accumulate near the inside of the cell membrane, push the cell wall to bud outward, where, weakened, the cell bursts and releases the replicate viruses to rush at more healthy cells. This is what viruses do, and Ebola does it well, confusing the body’s immune system to think it is fighting a simple flu-like infection with fever, aches and pains, and not a massive and patterned attack.

This deception allows the ranks of new viruses time to race, reach and attach themselves to the insides of the blood-carrying vessels of the body, the veins and arteries. Once there, the viruses work to destroy the vascular system of the patient, who, at this stage, can begin to bleed or hemorrhage. Another name for the disease is Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever or EHF.

Early intervention and palliative care (treatment of the initial symptoms) can be effective in preventing the advance of the Ebola virus. It might be said that early detection and treatment buy time for the body’s immune system to recognize the veiled threat and mobilize the resources to combat and defeat the Ebola disease.

This is a battle, but it is a battle that can be fought and won. Here, there are some very positive facts to be shared and followed.

For a human to contact the disease from another human, the infected person must be contagious. To be contagious, the infected person must exhibit symptoms.

Early identification, isolation, treatment and follow-up are the steps to stop the spread Ebola. Hospitals and hospital personnel know how to do this. Communities and community personnel know how to facilitate this. Federal and state resources are ready to support these efforts.

If you or someone you know has traveled to an infected region of the world (West Africa is presently an area of concern) or you have been around someone who has been diagnosed with Ebola and you develop symptoms, keep yourself and your clothing distant from others and go immediately to the nearest hospital. The sooner the symptoms are managed, the better the chance of a complete recovery.

Start the process and stop the spread.

Contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person is necessary to transmit the disease. My reading suggests there is very little likelihood of encountering the disease in the air you breathe. Being on the plane with an infected person should not be a concern. Breathing the air on a plane with a contagious person should not be a concern. It appears you would have to somehow touch the bodily fluids of the person infected (for example, sweat, saliva or blood), either by physically contacting the fluids or touching something the fluids have touched, like clothing or bed sheets. Without such contact, there is little or no chance of the disease being transmitted.

A key here is contact follow-up. Once a case is identified, the mechanisms are in place to identify and evaluate everyone who may have had any contact with an infected person. Again, the first step to allow contact follow-up to be effective is to report the disease to medical professionals at the first possible chance of occurrence. Do not hesitate. Do no wait.

Start the process to stop the spread.

Ebola can be a deadly disease. From past outbreaks in Africa, the death rates average 50%. Much has been learned. Much is being learned. Treatments are being engineered and tested. Vaccines are being developed. Now, right now, we know what to do with the tools we have. The keys to stopping Ebola are early identification, isolation, treatment, contact follow-up and trust. We must trust our hospitals, our communities and our governments.

I plan to go to my appointment at that hospital with the first two cases. I trust the hospital and its staff, and I will work with them and the rest of my community to support their efforts.

Together, Ebola can and will be stopped.

Grandpa Jim