The head of the Mississippi Department of Health is calling for a calm and rational response to Ebola. The department says hospitals are prepared even if the risk of the virus coming to Mississippi is very low.
State Health officer Mary Currier says they are working with hospitals to ensure that their staff is fully-trained to respond if someone does test positive for Ebola in Mississippi.
Currier says the only people at risk for catching the disease are those who have traveled to Sierra Leon, Liberia, and Guinea in the last three weeks.
"That is one of the reasons that we want to stress is that the travel history is the first thing you ask. And by getting a good travel history you can rule out Ebola and then you can go on to what it really might be,"Currier said.
The only way to catch the disease is physical contact with bodily fluids from someone with obvious Ebola symptoms.
It is not airborne.
Currier says it is incredibly unlikely that a Mississippian will come down with Ebola and says residents need to approach the outbreak in a rational way.
"Its not something that is high risk in Mississippi. It is something that is very low risk in Mississippi. And in fact I think the thing that could save your life this year is getting a flu shot. We know that people die every year in Mississippi," Currier said.
However, Currier says she understands concerns about the disease especially in light of nurses in Texas becoming infected.
