Ebola Outbreak Paper

UNICEF officer, Suzanne Mary Beukes provided a clearer insight to how poor the country of Guinea is when she wrote, "The world has virtually quarantined a country in which 43 percent of people were already living on less than $1.25 a day prior to this health crisis” (Gholipour, 2014). The countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (the countries where outbreaks primarily occurred), are some of the poorest countries in the world as a result of their recent civil war and the damaged health and education infrastructures that followed. (“Factors that Contributed to the Spread of Ebola,” n.d., para. 10). The poor infrastructures led to the delayed transportation of patients and lab work to labs and hospitals in addition to the lack of communication between health facilities. In addition to the lack of health facilities, there was shortage of healthcare workers. “Prior to the outbreaks, the three countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) had a ratio of only one to two doctors per nearly 100,000 population” (“Factors that Contributed to the Spread of Ebola,” n.d., para. 15). The poverty in these cities and countries lead people to want to move to a better standard of living, be treated for the virus, and look for food &

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

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.

Discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River, Ebola’s first two outbreaks in Sudan and Zaire killed the majority, over half, of the people infected with the disease. Although the natural host reservoir of Ebola has yet to be found, the virus is believed to be animal-borne. A person gets Ebola from a wild animal and then is spread throughout the human population through person-to-person transmission. Healthcare workers providing aide for Ebola victims know that they have a high possibility of contracting the disease because they are exposed to infected blood and body fluids. It could take from two to twenty-one days for the Ebola Virus to show symptoms in humans, and

On March 23, the WHO’s Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) released the first Ebola report on the emergence of the disease in Guinea. At this time, the WHO sent teams into the field to manage and trace cases. It also notified WHO labs across Africa to prepare to diagnose cases. As the prevalence of Ebola grew, the WHO maintained contact with its regional offices in West Africa. AFRO’s regional director, Dr. Luis Sambo, called for greater epidemiological aid and implementation of the IHR’s alert system requirements. Between March and May of 2014, the WHO sent more than 100 experts to aid in the control of the outbreak. A cross border surveillance program began in June to limit the spread of the disease between the countries. During this time, the WHO continued meeting with government leaders in West Africa, AFRO representatives, and relevant organizations including the CDC and MSF. In June, MSF called for the WHO to increase its response. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the WHO responded by upgrading the outbreak a Level 3 emergency. A Level 3 grade constitutes a greater WHO role in the outbreak, particularly through an increase in resources

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a virus transmitted from humans or animals through body fluids. It is transmitted by means of contact with infected blood, mucous membranes, semen and other secretions, therefore being skin lesions and sexual contact significant ways of transmission (Boulton, 2014). As a transmittable disease, progression of the virus had been thought to be linked to higher probabilities of transmission, and therefore safety of persons in contact with infected patients was in question (Yamin et al., 2015). A study conducted in Liberia in 2014 proved such hypothesis to be true and concluded that prompt and accurate isolation of infected patients was a safe method

the Ebola outbreak could have been contained, but due to a political transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that was explained by the “interruption of international cooperation, inadequate disease surveillance and reporting, and a breakdown of the general health care infrastructure, due in part to a lack of motivation among poorly paid health

At the beginning of the article, the map demonstrates through shading, that the disease stems from Nigeria, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. West Africa has a current Ebola outbreak in 2014. Obviously America does not want this disease present in America. The CDC (Center of Disease Control) is helping sort out this situation. The main goal of the CDC, as the text implies, is to help countries all over the world with multiple diseases to prevent the certain disease from spreading. Through the beginning of this program multiple countries have been saved, killing off this disease at its core. Although it is hard for the CDC to stop the disease in this specific situation. According to the article, many Ebola cases could have been prevented through less human involvement with animals. Animals have been spreading Ebola to people through physical encounters with them. Human encounters with animals have spread Ebola through open wounds, or touching slobber. Once interactions with an unsanitary animal occurs, people might start showing Ebola

The symptoms of Ebola are a fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, vomiting, stomach pain, sore throat, diarrhea, weakness and occasionally read eyes, rashes, hiccups, and internal and external bleeding and since these symptoms are not specific to Ebola, it is difficult to clinically diagnose and can often be confused with other viruses. The ELISA testing, short for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and virus isolation are a couple of examples of the types of laboratory testing that can be done to diagnose and Ebola patient. Because of how easily it can be transmitted, it is extremely difficult to treat and there is no approved, official treatment. As of now, there is not standard treatment but usually the patients are given fluids and oxygen, have their blood pressure monitored and other necessary treatment. To prevent transmission and spreading the virus, the doctors use extreme caution and wear head to toe protective gear and isolate the patient. Even though the Ebola virus is common in Africa, there has been no known outbreak in the United States. Another difficulty facing scientists and the treatment for Ebola is that the natural reservoir for the virus unknown. The natural reservoir of a virus is it’s long term host of the

Every illness begins at a single source that can rapidly spread to susceptible individuals who are completely unaware of what is occurring before them. This infection sparks a chain of events that can quickly transform a small illness into an epidemic. On March 25, 2014 the World Health Organization(WHO) announced the outbreak of a new strain of the Ebola virus disease with 86 suspected cases[15]. From this point onward, constant updates have been documented, and until the end of November 2014 the condition grew in number and prevalence[7]. With additional efforts and protocols instituted by organizations such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus began to fall until the present day. Fortunately, a pharmaceutical company

Ebola is a fever-bound viral disease which belongs to the Filoviridae family and is extremely fatal. When it first appeared in 1976, it claimed 90% of its recipients. Ebola originated from Nzara, Sudan and Yambuku of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its name originates from the Ebola River where it was first contracted in Yambuku. Since its initial outbreak and more recent understanding of the disease, medical amends have reduced the mortality rate greatly but it still spans from about 25% to 90% nonetheless. Before its outbreak in the United States in 2014, there were roughly 2300 cases with over 1500 deaths. In 2014, the US had its first outbreak of Ebola with 11 total cases documented where there were 2 deaths. Symptoms include fever,

“It is rare for someone to die in the United States from Ebola because medical and monetary resources are extensive-much more so than in West Africa” (Fantz). The way Ebola even traveled to the US was from Americans who felt that West Africa and other countries needed help fighting Ebola. They took time out of their own lives to go and save others’ lives while also risking their own at the same time. Since West Africa does not have the resources we

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]

There was no way to cure ebola until recently. Before the new breakthrough doctors treated people with ebola by a simple blood transfusion from ebola survivors and the antibodies in their blood would hopefully kill off the ebola virus. Although this treatment could not cure all cases of ebola, it did drop the fatality rate from 80 percent to a mere 12.5 percent(K. Mupapa et al.). The reason for this treatment has still yet to be explained(K. Mupapa et al.). Hannah Nichols who joined MNT with experience writing medical and health content for patient, health care professional, obstetrician, gynecologist and midwifery audiences in the specialist area of stem cell processing and research, has information about this ebola epidemic. The other ways to treat ebola include balancing the patient's fluids and electrolytes, maintaining their oxygen status and blood pressure, treating a patient for any complicating infections(Nichols). Ways to prevent ebola include ensuring all health care workers wear protective clothing (such as masks, gloves, gowns and goggles), implementing infection-control measures (such as complete equipment sterilization and routine use of disinfectant), isolation of Ebola patients from contact with unprotected persons(Nichols). There was no FDA approved vaccine that could be used. Doctors were stuck isolating patients and trying to balance their body fluids. Since ebola is only contracted from direct contact of body fluids, such as spit or blood, putting a mask on the patient with ebola could help prevent further spreading of this disease. But if someone were to get ebola a few years back then they would have to goto the hospital and be isolated

Normally infecting fruit bats, the Ebola virus found a mutation allowing it to spread to humans. This virus is an acute and often fatal illness. This virus first erupted in two outbreaks in 1976 (one occurring in Nzara and Sudan, while the other occurred in a village near the Ebola river, where the virus takes its name.) The current outbreak, starting in West Africa with the potential to spread throughout the world,  is  larger and more complex than previous outbreaks. This virus has caused more deaths than all other past Ebola outbreaks combined. With approximately five people infected with the virus every hour in Sierra Leone alone, how far – and how fast – will the Ebola virus go?