Ebola Epidemic Summary

There has been an acute worry roaming about the United States concerning the Ebola Outbreak. Originally, Ebola had never touched the United States until September of 2014. (4) The disease was originated from and named after a river in the Democratic of Congo. Since discovered, there have been known cases in Africa. There have been many very deadly cases of Ebola - the fatality rate is estimated to from about fifty to ninety percent. (2) To the United States, there had never been any worry about the disease until September twentieth of 2014. A man by the name of Thomas Eric Duncan boarded flight 822 from Liberia to Dallas, Texas. Flight 822 was where it all began. Nobody had any

Ebola is a virus that is transmitted to other individuals through direct contact with blood and body fluids of those infected (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). In the most recent outbreak in 2014, the video Ebola Outbreak (2014) illustrated that the virus quickly became a worldwide epidemic. As the virus became so widespread throughout Africa, Ebola-infected so many people in such a short time frame. While the organization, Doctors without Borders was intimately involved early on, they quickly learned that the manpower they had to offer was not nearly enough. The group identified that they had no way of performing contact tracing, which is a way of following patients that were contaminated and quickly led to additional cases of infection in astronomical numbers. According to the follow-up video, Outbreak (2014) the organization Doctors without Borders communicated to the World Health Organization (WHO) made a valiant

What was usually a disease contained in regions of sub-Saharan Africa became a global worry. Although the outbreak started in Guinea, it quickly spread to two neighboring countries. From these three countries, cases were then transmitted to the United States, Spain, and the United Kingdom. No vaccine was available to stop the spread of Ebola. This deadly disease went from being a problem in only a small region of the world to being seen in three noncontiguous countries, which could have sowed the seeds of a pandemic had the cases not been contained. As a global community, we gain from our interactions with all citizens, but we must also be aware that we can also suffer from diseases that we think of as only affecting the “others.” If we do not help those “others,” we may become part of

Despite modest health improvements in the decade or so following the end of active conflict, the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic revealed ongoing systemic issues. The global involvement in the Mano River region countries, and particularly the role of the World Health

Thousands have died and many are in danger from the effects of Ebola. In 2013, the pestilent virus began in Guinea where it then meandered into Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. The African countries are now facing challenges to fight and prevent the malaise. The alarming death rate is forcing the region into a state of crisis. The affected countries are striving for a cure, however, the issue remains incorrigible. “In addition, as a number of these countries are quite poor, aid and health

Ebola was first recognized in 1976 as the cause of outbreaks of disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as Zaire) and in Sudan. About three hundred people in each of the two nations were infected with the virus, resulting in a mortality rate of 88% in Zaire, and 53% in Sudan (Bulletin of the WHO 1978). The disease as it was discovered spread through direct contact of unmans to humans, and then thought, from non-human primates to humans. The epidemic was a result of unsafe and unsanitary hospital practices, and non-sterilized medical equipment. The disease was then contained, however sporadic outbreaks of the Zaire and Sudan Ebola subtypes have risen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Uganda, and Sudan; one of the latest outbreaks was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September of 2007.

Wendy Orent, writing this article after the Ebola outbreak, states that Ebola doesn’t have what it takes to produce a pandemic. Orent believes that there’s no way the next pandemic will spring on us, unlike the ideas of Frank Macfarlane, a virologist. Orent’s theory is that the only way a real pandemic can happen is through social conditions like refugee camps or crowded hospitals.

As with any infectious disease, whether it originates from a virus, bacterium, or fungi, there is the possibility that it will become an epidemic. For centuries, deadly diseases have threatened to infect and possibly eradicate mankind. The Ebola virus, which causes an extremely fatal hemorrhagic fever, is considered to be one of the most aggressive contagions in the world. The Ebola virus is a member of a family of RNA viruses known as, “Filoviridae” and is composed of multiple distinct subspecies (Bausch et al. 2007). It causes Ebola Virus Disease, a fairly new disease that plagues multiple poor countries within Africa. The virus mainly attacks the lymphatic system, but also severely damages the reproductive and reticuloendothelial systems. The Ebola virus disease causes muscle pain, weakness, limited kidney and liver function and extreme blood loss due to failure of blood clotting.

This book took place in the late 1980's, and it is based upon an outbreak of the Ebola virus in a monkey house located in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Reston, Virginia. The first occurrence of an Ebola-like virus (Marburg) takes place in Kenya and a French expatriate named Charles Monet is the first to die from this disease. His terrible and excruciatingly fatal death is described in the most horrific details by Preston. The hospital staff who treated Monet became infected with the virus as well, traveling fast throughout the hospital and carried on more deaths. The Marburg virus was first to explode in a vaccine factory in Germany in 1967. Over the next several chapters, the book describes outbreaks that occurred four years before Monet’s death. Preston then goes on to explaining how

This Ebola outbreak taught us many factors of public health that we simply ignore daily, like washing hands. These viruses are easily transmitted from person to person, through their blood or body-fluids. Therefore it is very important to research about our public health around us, for everyone’s health and future. The Ebola outbreak showed how the world is very ignorant of their public health. It is better for them to know all of these tragedies and educate themselve to prevent from any other outbreaks that will take place in the future. The plan to release more information and persuade to adjust West African culture will definitely make public healthier, view the world differently, and our future generations will learn the importance of learning

got sick and died. This outbreak infected 318 with a death rate of 93% (Le

The CDC smallpox attack scenario at first might seem a bit farfetched. However, I feel believe that although the scenario might be somewhat exaggerated is not has farfetched as it might appear for several reasons. Smallpox has been considered eradicated since the 1970s; chances are the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has little to no vaccine on hand to deal with large scale breakout. Some government agencies tend to be reactive instead of proactive, especially when it comes to dealing with an issue that has small chance of happening.

Chairman Jeff Flake (R-AZ), noted that World Health Organization declared that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is no longer a global health emergency.

One specific trial emerging out of the 2014 Ebola outbreak is STRIVE. STRIVE stands for Sierra Leone Trial to introduce a Vaccine against Ebola. Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa and is a country that was affected by the 2014 Ebola outbreak. The study of the STRIVE vaccine is said to be, “an unblinded, individually randomized trial with phased introduction of the vaccine”(www.cdc.gov). Patients were separated into two categories. One group received the vaccine immediately and were watched for six months, while about six months later, the second group received the vaccine. The groups were both observed for the amount of antibodies in their blood. A vaccine prepares the body for an infection. The vaccine is usually dead or

Imagine being isolated from your friends and family, suffering from an illness that feels as though something is burning through your body, while watching people around you dying of the same illness and wondering when it will be your turn to proverbially “kick the bucket”. For many survivors of the Ebola disease, this situation would be far too familiar. In March 2014, the Ebola virus outbreak began in West Africa, mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. According to a recent figure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been a total of 28616 Ebola cases and 11310 deaths from Ebola in these three countries (2014). There were many unpalatable symptoms of the disease, such as “fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, widespread bleeding, diarrhea and other physical symptoms leading to high mortality” (Van Bortel). If one is lucky enough to survive this virus, however, there are just as many negative results of the virus as there were symptoms. Many West African survivors have to deal with their new negative image, negative lasting health effects, or a decrease in financial stability due to their inability to work or find work after they recover. Now that the West African Ebola epidemic is over, (Liberia) there remains the task of assimilating the survivors back into their societies. Moreover, the best solution to counteract the effects of the Ebola virus on survivors is to expand upon the Ebola-survivor-support organizations already in place.