Ebola Outbreak In West Africa

Because Ebola was unknown and never seen before, doctors and citizens in Ebola-infected cities did not know what kind of precautions to take when handling an Ebola-exposed person. As a direct effect to this, the virus spread tremendously fast through the city of Zaire, and eventually spread to many other countries due to the lack of knowledge of the infectious disease. Hospital workers dealing with Ebola-exposed patients took few precautions when handling blood and test tubes. Family members held funerals to those who died from the virus, which spread the disease among the family members. In fact, an article was published in the Houston Chronicle on October 19, 2000, stating that the 9 month child of Esther Awete, who died from infection of the Ebola virus, came down with the infection himself, just days after attending her funeral. Her other son, however, did not attend her funeral and ironically did not come down with Ebola. It is believed that if the virus can find a host quickly, then it can still survive after it's previous host dies.

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

In 2014 the United States was hit with a force far more deadly and dangerous than many threats received. The ebola virus took the world by storm after it was carried to the United States and spread by people who had visited West Africa. This virus was all the more deadly as it often took hours for any symptoms to occur. In this time the Center for Disease Control spent much time and many resources looking for answers to the many questions they had. Under the time constraint and scrutinizing public, they had to determine what ebola was, what it did and its effects on the general public.

The whole world is at edge knowing that Ebola is a very lethal virus and it is very tough to treat and cure an infected person. But it has been seen that in countries were level of development is higher and health care is easily reached this disease can be fought.

In 2014 the world watched in horror as West Africa experienced the largest Ebola epidemic in history. Affected countries in Africa included Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and the epidemic, having begun in December 2013, went on for a full year, with additional cases occurring throughout 2015. Over 19,000 cases were reported by December 2014 and of those, 7,518 lost their lives. Today, we know that in total, over 11,000 people lost their lives ("Previous case counts", 2016). There were many factors at play in this outbreak, such as the emergence of a new strain Ebola virus; a lack of preparedness in West Africa, where Ebola had not been seen prior to 2014; a shortage of health care workers and subsequent death of many more them, leading

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.

Ebola Virus disease (EVD) is a severe and often fatal illness in humans according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (WHO, 2016). Although initially originating in wild animals it spreads through the human population via human to human transmission of bodily fluids with the average casualty rate being about 50% (WHO, 2016). The key to prevention and control of Ebola outbreaks is through community engagement, safe burials and good health centre prevention measures (WHO, 2015). Two countries will be examined one has experienced multiple cases of Ebola, Sierra Leone, and the other a few cases, the United States of America. The

America is suddenly at risk. Others think that since the disease is in Africa then it will stay in Africa. The Ebola virus has transferred to American by doctors who have helped others in Africa. We are trying to keep the Ebola virus to stop spreading in Africa. The doctors, after killing the disease temporarily, come back to America. Ebola is highly contagious, contaminating those in

The last Ebola outbreak was merely a year ago. This tragedy is fresh; I remember watching the news in fear that Ebola would come to America…until it did. First in Texas then again when two American doctors were flown from Africa to Emory. The idea of Ebola being in my back yard was absolutely terrifying! I couldn’t stop imagining what I’m going to do when I’m a medical student and a biohazard level four patient is in the same hospital as me.

Every time you turn on the news or pick up a newspaper, there is something being reported about the spread of Ebola. The Ebola outbreaks occurring in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are growing larger and larger. This is the largest outbreak with more cases and deaths since Ebola was first discovered nearly four decades ago. United States doctors and missionaries have traveled to these countries to help treat infected people. However, there have now been cases where U.S. citizens have contracted the disease and have been brought back to the United States to be treated. This has caused raised concerns about the disease spreading in the U.S. as well. The physical, cultural, economic, political and religious geography of Africa have all played

The Ebola outbreak that started in Guinea in March 2014 and that spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia later, is not the first Ebola outbreak in human history. In fact, 25 Ebola outbreaks were recorded since the virus was first discovered in 1976. But this year’s outbreak has been the severest one because of its widely geographic spread[ http://time.com/47018/ebola-breaks-out-in-west-africa/] and the lack of health infrastructure in those three countries hardest hit. Although in February, the United States and 28 other countries announced the Global Health Security Agenda, one of whose goals was to prevent and reduce the likelihood of outbreaks, the US response in the early months was not enough given the size of the disaster.[ http://ic.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&u=psucic&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA382718305]

(National Geographic)” Also, healthcare workers could potentially not want to go to Africa to help if they are going to be quarantined on arrival back in their home country. Frieden says, “health care workers might be unwilling to help out in West Africa, making it more likely the disease will keep landing on American shores. (National Geographic)” Over the short term, some cases of Ebola in the united states could be prevented, CNN states, but for the long term, it could back fire if highly trained personnel have more incentive not to go to west Africa to help with the disease. Dr. John Carlson spent four weeks working with Ebola patients and says that, “healthcare workers already sacrifice their time to those who need it, and that quarantining them might seem like a punishment, discouraging people like him to do it again. (CNN)” Some individuals also claim that Ebola is no worse than other illnesses, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, or bacterial infections. They claim that at one point in time these illnesses had once sparked a fire of fear in hearts of people around the world and that today are looked at as not as serious when people are still also affected by these diseases daily and also die from them daily.

Ebola is a nightmare virus that is known for its deadliness and with a ninety percent fatality rate it has certainly earned its reputation. The virus shows up with symptoms like influenza, aka the common cold, however the symptoms gradually or in some cases, take great turns for the worst. The virus overtakes its victims usually causing multi-organ failure resulting in death. There are rare cases where a victim can be treated, but it is only if the virus is caught early enough to treat the symptoms that may last for a few days to three weeks during which they remain contagious. Men can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to seven weeks after recovery. (Ebola 2) The World Health Organization website provides

In class we got a chance to discuss Ebola in the US and in Africa. As known, the US certainly have less cases and deaths due to Ebola in comparison to countries all over Africa. In terms of the reading in addition to the lecture by Haneefa Saleem, the class learned about what is the Ebola virus and its history, the affect it has on a person and their community in addition to how the world has perceived this virus. Thankfully, the US does not have to go through the effects of living in an Ebola epidemic because of the certain precautions taken when a case arise and the steps taken further for primary and secondary prevention. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Africa. There are always new cases of Ebola arises in different parts of Africa and it still continues to be a threat

In 2014, the largest Ebola epidemic in history affected multiple countries in West Africa. There were also two imported cases, including one death, and two locally acquired cases in healthcare providers reported in the United States. The epidemic was