(CNN) -- Today's world is more interconnected than ever, making the transmission of communicable diseases that originate abroad easier to reach our shores. And the ongoing Ebola outbreak is simply the latest unsettling reminder that all the benefits of an interconnected world also come with significant risks that must be addressed and mitigated. This Ebola outbreak likely began with a 2-year-old in the rain forest of GuÃ©ckÃ©dou, Guinea, and it has now reached halfway around the world to Dallas, Texas, where this terrible disease claimed its first victim in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, last Wednesday. We have the ability to prevent a significant outbreak of the virus here in the United States, but President Obama must act much more quickly and effectively if we are going to combat the disease at its source, and thus hinder further overseas transmission and ultimately prevent the spread of the disease outside Africa.
@highlight
Marco Rubio: Americans lack confidence in government's ability to fight crises like Ebola
@highlight
But U.S. is country best equipped to tackle nightmare problems of Ebola, he says
@highlight
Important that U.S. help beat the disease in West Africa to ease threat to U.S., Rubio says
Beginning with the first case in @placeholder last December, the response to the Ebola outbreak by the international community has been slow and inadequate.