Ebola Spread

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 late 2013, Ebola virus disease (EVD), a deadly and lethal disease, remerged in West Africa spreading to various countries in the region. In humans, the disease is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids leading to haemorrhagic fever (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Originating in 1976 in equatorial Africa, past outbreaks with a few hundred cases had been contained within rural, forested areas in Uganda and Congo (Piot, 2012). In 2014, a total of 20, 206 cases and 7,905 deaths were reported to have occurred in up to eight countries worldwide. Of all cases and deaths resulting from the disease, 99.8% occurred in three neighbouring West African countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea (WHO, 2014). With a case fatality rate from about 50% to 90%, and the absence of preventative or curative therapies, the Ebola epidemic has led to overall global alarm and further elucidated existing global health disparities that perpetuated the epidemic with these West African countries.

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.

Since the epidemic started the CDC, WHO and other U.S. government agencies coordinated a uniform response to the affected areas to gain control over this horrific occurrence. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the CDC was organizing Ebola treatment centers in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). These designated hospitals were spread throughout the U.S. and began receiving patients, many whom were doctors, aid workers, missionaries and one reporter. These centers received specialized training, as well as dedicated areas for the infected individuals. As the Ebola became more evident throughout the United States, medical staff became more informed of the illness and specialized training was necessary for front-line staff. Even though community hospitals were not likely to have been affected by patients being transferred from Africa, they too were receiving additional Ebola training for this

More active disease surveillance needs to occur. This means that health care workers should be encouraged to document and report those they think have been exposed and their contacts. In more effectively reporting suspected cases, Ebola response teams are better able to promptly follow-up, transfer to isolation centers, and assess the scope of the epidemic (Matua, Van der Wal, & Locsin,

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

President Obama, as a Commander-in-Chief, is responsible for safeguarding and protecting Americans, their interests (whether in the United States or abroad), and foreign nationals in the United States (US). Thus, the president is accountable to the American people and the international communities to provide leadership during crises to assure the well-being of American citizens. Consequently, the recent Ebola epidemic developing in West Africa presented the president and his administration with a unique challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate their leadership capacity. Despite this opportunity, the Obama administration has failed in its duty to effectively manage the crisis and minimize Americans’ exposure to the virus.

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 &

The protective measures that were implemented to defend against the spread of Ebola to the United States of America have somewhat failed. The President did verbally assure all Americans that he and the rest of American leaders have its citizen’s safety as a number one priority. Obama stated, “America will do everything in its power to ensure that the virus is contained in Liberia and West Africa;” this was perceived as a faulty since Thomas Duncan, was able to penetrate the barriers that were set in place, and brought Ebola to Dallas, Texas (Obama-America Will Ensure, 2014). To expand on this perceived falsehood the government then decided to send healthy American citizens to the “Ebola War Zone” to contain the epidemic from spreading outside of infected African villages. It did not appear logical at the time to send perfectly healthy soldiers into an infectious

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

The FRONTLINE documentary, Outbreak, tells the story of the Ebola outbreak of 2014. They trace the disease way back to where the very first cases of it were scene. The outbreak of ebola originated in the West African country of Guinea. It quickly begins to spread to other countries like Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The spreading was a result of individuals who contracted the disease moving and traveling across Africa. Many of these countries believe that they could control the disease at a small-scale, but they surely underestimated the severity of the outbreak. As more and more cases arose, and the disease spread even within the hospitals and quarantine sites, it seemed liked there was no resolution. With so many unanswered questions and no solution

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.

THIRD POINT: There is no FDA approved vaccine currently available for Ebola. It is very important that everyone practices careful hygiene. Always wash hands with soap and

Since there is no  preventative treatment for the Ebola virus currently and treatment is only experimental, we have to take careful measures in