Although I’m no fan of Gov. Paul LePage, I was appalled by the anti-LePage editorial on Oct. 15. The writer seems to feel that confirming the recent travel history of a person showing Ebola symptoms is intrusive or even stigmatizing. If a person is presenting with Ebola symptoms we need to know where and when they have traveled for at least the past month. If such a person has traveled outside the country, public health officials have a duty to request documentation of the itinerary. Persons without documentation need to be questioned in detail regarding country of origin and all other places they have passed through.

The editorial is correct in noting that the present outbreak is presently confined to West Africa. This makes it all the more important to identify and confirm the travel history of anyone who has recently been in that part of the world. If I were recently returned from a trip to say, Kenya, in East Africa, and were showing possible Ebola symptoms, I would gladly present my “proper papers.” A passport with visas, entry stamps and exit stamps would show public health officials that I had not been in an Ebola zone. To act otherwise is blatantly anti-social, with complete disregard for the lives of others.

There is as yet no vaccine or widely available drug to combat Ebola. The disease carries a 60 to 70 percent mortality rate. Strict public health measures are one of the few effective weapons we have at this time.

Joe Sanders

Augusta

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