Outbreak 2014: Ebola

A menacing shadow has been cast over West Africa.  The governments of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are on a race against time to stop the lethal spread of the Ebola virus which has fostered a flourishing epidemic of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever resulting in the deaths of thousands of people; and there is no end in sight.

Reliable statistics are filtering in of an outbreak of 2,344 new cases over the last 21 days in those previously mentioned countries as the disease continues to spread virtually without any control.  Furthermore, there are now confirmed reports of Ebola in Nigeria and Senegal.  International health agencies and the United Nations are scrambling to gain ground on this widespread phenomenon.  President Obama has authorized the deployment of 3,000 American military personnel and vast medical supply inventories to the region in hopes of helping the fight against the disease and alleviating some of the fear and panic washing over those nations.

The virus was, itself, first identified in the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976.  Since that time, the outbreaks among human populations have been much smaller than the current crisis.  What is most startling is the 50% to 90% mortality rate of the disease, as approximately 5,000 West Africans have perished since cases first popped-up in December of 2013.  Ebola is Mother Nature’s ruthless assassin, and there is no effective vaccine.

In response to this growing catastrophe, Petersen International has developed a Tropical Disease Rider as an endorsement to our international accidental death insurance program.  Those traveling to Africa (healthcare and foreign aid workers, missionaries, physicians, oil workers, journalists, etc.) can now purchase coverage to indemnify their lives against contracting exotic diseases including Ebola.

 

The dangers are self-evident and the statistics are accurate.  People are dying and Americans are at risk.  Contact Petersen International (800) 345-8816 for more information on financially protecting your clients who are potentially vulnerable to this terrible, ongoing epidemic.