The deadly Ebola virus continues to wreak havoc in West Africa. Its ability to spread as far as Nigeria has raised fears about the virus finding its way to the United States.

Over the last couple of months Ebola has infected more than a thousand and has killed more than 600 in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the Smithsonian. However, there runs the risk of the virus reaching the West.

Since the death of Patrick Sawyer in Nigeria, fears have increased that the virus will be able to move around with travelers across borders and land in the United States. The Daily Beast spoke with Sawyer's widow in Minnesota, where Sawyer was to return by Aug. 16 before his death.

"He could have brought Ebola here," said Decontee Sawyer, his wife. Sawyer had been caring for an ill sister, but did not learn Ebola infected her until she died.

"I think he might have been in a state of denial," Decontee said, referring to his infection. However, if the disease had manifested later, the possibility of bringing the disease to the U.S. would have been more real.

According to CNN, the disease can travel to the United States or any other industrialized country, but it would not cause the same havoc as in West Africa.

Although this strain of the disease is highly deadly, with a reported 90 percent death rate of those infected, the manner in which the virus is spread hinders its ability to turn into an epidemic.

This gives industrialized nations like the United States an upper hand because of their superior public health systems, according to CNN.

"It certainly is feasible that someone could come to the United States who is infected and gets sick here. No one's denying that," said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, reports CNN. However, the U.S. health system can provide the defense required "to do the kind of isolation that apparently is very difficult to do within the health care infrastructure in the African countries that we are talking about."