While this article seems a little overly gentle for my taste, it does describe some important differences between Africa and here.
“Modern Plumbing: The Answer to Ebola epidemic”
http://www.ushealthworks.com/blog/index.php/2014/09/ebola-epidemic/
The doctor makes a some good points, but I agree, I think he's minimizing the threat. The very stomach flu he cites as an example of the superior hygiene in the U.S. is likewise an example of how fast epidemics can spread despite such infrastructure. And there's a huge difference between cleaning up after a vomiting session from a non-fatal stomach virus, and cleaning up after explosive diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding that covers the walls of the room, as with Ebola.
I don’t disagree with the premise.
However, what scares me the most are the people who are so sick they cannot make it to the bathrooms in their homes. They will infect their housemates (families, caregivers, friends, etc.)
If you have ever been in a skilled care nursing facility when one of those “bugs” sweeps through, causing a lot of “gastro sickness”, you know what I mean. And those are skilled nursing facilities. Imagine what would happen in a tenement in the Bronx.
The part that frightens me the most is the lack of hospital facilities to deal with a pandemic. My wife works at a pretty decent sized hospital, and they would be working out of tents and setting up old style “wards.”
I honestly do not think it will come to that. I think it will get stopped before it jumps in Africa. But, being prepared was drilled into me when I was a kid. And risk management was drilled into my as a professional.
There was a Redbook article about Aids back in the early 80’s making the case that “Women are a natural firebreak to AIDS”. He then went on to explain why.
The CDC vilified the author. They said, and I paraphrase, “What he said is true, but it gives women a false sense of low risk and will increase the number of cases, so he should not have made that information public.”