Ever since the release of the Mitchell Report, there has been report after report on just how prevalent the use of performance enhancing drugs on the sport of baseball has become.  Wherever you turn, you see stories about it. Even the non-sports media is reporting on this scourge affecting our National Pastime.

There's the Wall Street Journal contemplating the affect steroid allegations have in trade negotiations, there's Roger Clemens defending himself against allegations with Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes," there's Bob Schieffer on the "CBS Evening News" discussing the effects steroid use by the Major Leaguers of today will have on the major leaguers of tomorrow, and the list goes on and on.

It's a story that's virtually impossible to ignore, yet nobody has asked the most important question – How do we protect the rest of society from this epidemic?

The one thing that Senator George Mitchell and his group of investigators failed to explain in their 300-page report is exactly how average Americans protect themselves from this disease.

At the risk of sounding like "Chicken Little," and believe me this is more of a threat than the possibility of the sky falling, let me be the first to ring the alarm and say – protect yourself now, because it appears your government will once again be slow to react. There's not much time, but I wanted to get the word out that it's time to protect your families now before it becomes too late.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the government agency responsible for identifying, tracking and controlling the spread of disease, but where are they? Where is the emergency response plan? Why isn't our government working towards a vaccine?

Instead of holding their little fact finding hearing, Congress should be taking action! Shouldn't they be quarantining players now before pitchers and catchers report in February?

Within baseball, there's no way to tell who has and has not been infected with the disease. So we need to find every single last player and quarantine them from the rest of society.

You think Tim Wakefield is clean? He was teammates with Mo Vaughn. How about David Eckstein, the 2005 World Series MVP so admired by fans because of his underdog persona and gritty all out effort style of play? Certainly, he appears to be clean, but he has played with the likes of Troy Glaus, Brendan Donnelly, Cody McKay, Gary Bennett and Ryan Franklin. Those guys are all carriers according to the Mitchell Report. Eckstein's odds are not good considering that level of exposure.

It's obvious they're all beyond saving; but there's still hope for the rest of us. Believe me, I've read "The Stand" by Stephen King, and I've seen the movie "Outbreak," and I know how these things happen. This stuff spreads like wildfire.

Remember that little old lady down the street? The one that smells like socks and used to give out nickels at Halloween; well she just drove past Camden Yards after buying food for her 10 cats and in two days she's going to be bench pressing your Volkswagen. There's no time to waste. I know it's gonna be difficult for us all, but it's the right move.

Everybody must hurry to take action to save their own lives. But now I've got to run. I've got to find some duct tape and plastic sheeting.