Ebola Virus Research Paper

The Ebola Virus is a very sensitive subject at this time, with an outbreak within Western Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia most affected) causing panic and fear among many countries across the world. Within this essay, I aim to cover the transmission of the virus and how it replicates within the host cells, whilst briefly looking at the symptoms and dangers of the disease.

Historically Ebola has had a serious impact on human health and hygiene and still does due to the fact of no vaccine or treatment being discovered, but thanks to improvements in scientific and medical knowledge the virus itself is now controllable.

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.

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

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.

Although Ebola caught the world’s attention during the 1995 outbreak in Zaire, the first outbreak occurred in 1976. As the chart below displays, 71% of the people infected died as a result of Ebola during this first outbreak (Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 56 (2): 247-270, 1978). With the current outbreak, this ratio has dramatically decreased as a result of scientific research leading to early detection, but the current infected population is more than 20 times the amount of any previous outbreak and this number continues to grow as no vaccine exists to prevent the disease.

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a rare deadly infection that is caused by one of five identified strains of the Ebola 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 &

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

Prevention of the Ebola virus is more useful than the treatments. Improving sanitation is an important thing to do in rural African countries. Any victims need to be isolated as soon as possible. Quarantining of infected people from others plays a major role. People who have been in close contact with the infected

Ebola is a very deadly disease. It kills a lot of loved ones and it is ruining people's lives. It has killed more than 11,300 and made more than 28,000 sick. Doctors wonder if they could have saved more lives if they had used the malaria drug in their treatments. Now they know to give them the malaria drug to their treatments so they are able to save their lives.

Ebola is almost both bacterial and viral, but it is mostly a viral disease. In the early two thousands a group of security let a young nurse infected with Ebola on a plane to America which led to America with Ebola on our hands. The nurse and the people that she infected were put in complete isolation in a Texas motel. The motel had plastic wrapped around it so that the disease could not get out and harm people. The infected people were isolated in the area for twenty one days before they were let go, turns out that only 2 were infected. There are many ways that Ebola can spread, including blood, saliva, and all other bodily fluids. There were not as many drugs or treatments for the Ebola virus when it first arrived. The very few ways to try to control it are, an IV, making sure that blood pressure stays normal, and treat all other infections with antibiotics, aspirin, Tylenol, and prescriptions. Also a few fun facts about Ebola that I think people should know. Ebola is formally known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Ebola is not airborne, or water borne, it is transmitted. Ebola is treated by keeping bodily fluids maintained and under

Ebola has been a major cause for the deaths in some parts of Africa in which all genders and all ages are involved. Ebola is an infectious and genetically fatal disease marking by severe fever and internal bleeding. It can be spread through infected body fluids by a filovirus. Ebola causes the world to be in shock both physically and mentally. This disease is placed as one of the deadliest that the world has experienced in all its years. Actually this disease is ranked in the top 5 in the deadliest in the world. This disease is so deadly that if it spreads it will memolice with the world in no time. Ebola can be the game changer in the world survival if this one is not treated like it is supposed to be treated.

Summary: This podcast explains the effect of the Ebola Virus on countries, and what the World Health Organization did to stop it. Sarah Boseley interviews Professor David Heymann, Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni, President Ernest Bai Koroma, Ban Ki-moon, and Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny. The Ebola Epidemic started in West Africa, mainly Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. The World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible to slow down, or stop the disease from spreading. The Ebola Epidemic was still imminent in Africa while this podcast is going on, which on November 4, 2014. The interviewees say that WHO was slow to respond when the outbreak stuck the three countries. The reason that WHO was slow to respond, according to Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni is the funding

The Ebola epidemic in 2014-2016 has provided the opportunity for the public to witness the coordinated efforts of many health organizations such as Doctors without Borders, Samaritan’s Purse, World Health organization (WHO), and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Although WHO focuses on the issues of global health while the CDC attends to the national health issues, these two organizations collaborate when it comes to health crisis, such as the Ebola epidemic. Together, CDC (2016) and WHO (2016), educated the public with similar information on Ebola virus disease: the history, transmission, mortality rate, treatment, prevention, and the latest progress.