This March, however, the virus became active in West Africa, especially in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, and has spread rapidly. To date, more than 7200 people have become infected and over 3850 have died, with the number increasing every day. It's the deadliest occurrence to date and there’s no known cure.
Other parts of the world have been aware of the Africans' plight, but from a distance, and their reaction has been slow. As ever, a few volunteers and missionaries have stepped in to the danger zone, although inadequately trained and dressed to do so. Inevitably, some of them have also become infected, giving their home country the responsibility of repatriating them for treatment.
Two of those infected were Spanish priests and they were taken to isolation wards in Madrid. Both have since died and questions have been asked as to whether they should have been treated in Africa instead. This is especially relevant now that one of the nurses who treated the patients has become infected herself. How, has not been confirmed, but those in direct contact with her have also been checked, and her unfortunate husband is in isolation. All of a sudden, Spanish people are very aware of Ebola and its symptoms. There’s an understandable fear, particularly amongst those living and working close to the nurse, that they may have been infected. Speculation grows as to how widely the disease could spread, both in Spain and further afield to the rest of Europe. With no evidence of the disease being brought under control, military and medical personnel are now being sent to West Africa, but, it's thought, somewhat belatedly.
The infected Spanish nurse and her husband had an American Staffordshire terrier dog, called Excalibur. From his hospital bed, the husband tweeted a plea to save his pet. The authorities thought it unsafe to do so and, when they arrived to put down the dog, were met by a group of animal rights activists. Nevertheless, the dog was humanely killed. As the van left, three of the vociferous protesters were injured.
Excalibur created massive attention in Spain. Although people feared for themselves, they wanted to save the dog and appeared more concerned about one dog than the thousands who have died in Africa.
It's certain that, if the Ebola virus had first shown itself in Europe, greater attention would have been paid to find a cure. The fact that it happened in the Congo resulted in worldwide apathy. Only now, when the problem threatens to spread, do we take notice. With the level of western healthcare, it's still thought that the infection can be contained, but as has been shown in Madrid, we are vulnerable.
The world is now a smaller place and easy travel emphasises that. We can be affected, or infected, by something that originally happens thousands of kilometres away, but still only really care if we, or those close to us, are in danger. We'll turn a blind eye to foreign dilemmas and only open our eyes if confronted. It's true that we can't solve the world's problems and we'd be wrong to try to do so, but sometimes we need to question our motives.