Mr. Speaker, I have listened with interest to a number of interventions this evening on this very scary and dangerous event that is happening in the world today.
I remember a number of years back reading a novel called The Hot Zone. It was a terrifying true story written by Richard Preston. It is a non-fiction novel recounting the fear that came about when the Ebola virus was found in monkeys in Reston, Virginia and the warning signs that this sent off. I remember the fear I felt when reading the book of Ebola skipping borders and come into the world that I knew. I started looking into it back then. The book was written in 1995 and I read it when it came out. Even back then, Ebola had already done a lot of damage.
The first time that Ebola came into western consciousness, as we know it, was in 1976 with an outbreak in DRC. At that time, it was the Zaire strain. It had an 88% mortality rate. Since then, four other strains have joined the Ebola virus arsenal. The Zaire strain still stands as being the deadliest, ranging from the mid-50% up into the high 90% as far as mortality rates are concerned.
There have been some 24 outbreaks of Ebola on the African continent since 1976 with various strains. There are Sudan, Zaire, Thai and Bundibugyo strains, with the Zaire and Sudan strains being the most prolific.
I have heard much of what we are doing in the here and now. We have talked about what Canada and the World Health Organization are doing. We have touched on what other nations around the world are doing. However, my intervention will be based on a question.
Since 1976, there seems to have been very little research or work done in terms of preparation for the eventuality of an outbreak that we now face. It is an outbreak that has crossed borders. As I understand it, this is one of the first times that we have had a multi-border crossing of this disease. The question I would put out there to ruminate on is why we in the west have not progressed further in terms of our understanding and preparedness for not the possibility but the eventuality of one of these diseases, be it the hantavirus, Ebola or Reston disease, crossing borders and entering into other countries that up until this point had not seen this disease.
I would like to take this opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to let you know that I will be splitting my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
In the days of the black plague, this disease ravaged Europe to the tune of two-thirds of its citizens. There was no understanding at the time of how this disease was jumping borders until it was understood that it was being transported by rats that stowed away on the ships doing commerce between the affected countries. This understanding helped curtail the spread of the black death to the point where it only destroyed two-thirds of the population of Europe.
In the days since then the airplane has been developed, even ocean liners, which traverse the world a lot faster. They travel to so-called Third World countries, undeveloped countries, crossing into developed nations from the continents of Africa, Europe and North America.
It seems to me that at least since 1976 there may have been an opportunity to think of what would happen when diseases like this eventually did cross borders. This is the situation we are facing today. We have transcontinental transportation. Individuals who may be infected with the disease in the morning could be on a plane in the afternoon and on a completely different continent. We are not prepared for this. We are finally realizing that there needs to be an ongoing holistic approach to controlling outbreaks of diseases of this sort.
I would venture to guess that many other types of diseases are living in animal populations all around the world and they will eventually be transmitted to humans in one way or another. How prepared are we?
We are now in a situation where the UN Security Council is going to be debating actions on this crisis this Thursday, which I believe is the first time the council has been involved in a health related crisis. We are in a situation where countries where Ebola has happened before are now unprepared to deal with both the containment and treatment of this disease. I applaud the fact that Canada is stepping forward and doing its share and I applaud the fact that other developed countries are doing the same.
I would like to think that this is a warning for the future in terms of small outbreaks. When we see small outbreaks of diseases like this, we should take the opportunity to invest and learn about them so we can prepare for these diseases eventually crossing borders and possibly oceans.