The Problem Of The Ebola Crisis

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.

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 average fatality rate of patients infected with Ebola is around 50% according to the World Health Organization. The nonfiction book titled The Hot Zone by Richard Preston takes readers through true events pertaining to an outbreak of Ebola in the late 1980’s at a monkey testing facility in Reston, Virginia. The author heavily emphasizes the danger surrounding ignorance and uncertainty in regard to the viral and morbid Ebola at the conclusion of the book. While Preston makes this point evident countless times, three particular quotes give a clear example of Preston’s intention.

Hey! So I was reading this essay in the book that I bought for my English 101 class about how the horrible stuff you see on the news is COMPLETELY blown out of proportion sometimes and I just thought, “Wow, that’s completely true.” ‘Cause sometimes it’s just ridiculous! Like a couple years ago when there was that Ebola crisis and people TOTALLY freaked out! In reality, not many people in America got it and yet SO MANY PEOPLE were afraid of getting it. Like, what the hell? That’s stupid. People can be worried about the people who ARE getting it, but to actually think you’d contract it yourself is completely unrealistic! People seriously need to calm down.

The American President Barack Hussein Obama and other leading government officials were accused of slacking in their responsibility by not placing the safety of American citizens first. The government has also shown lack of leadership by not establishing a Surgeon General for this nation. Also, as the spread of Ebola became well known the media warned about strict precautions not implemented effectively enough to keep Ebola from entering America. Specifically, accusing the American leadership of today lacking in its obligation by not placing the welfare of their citizens first before their own personal agendas.

Many Americans today fear that “…contagion threatens to violate secure borders, invade our society, and proliferate out of control” (Dinello 53). For instance, Ebola remains a number one concern of the United States since Ebola is a virus that infiltrates through the immune system and overruns the physical body as a host, and causes the body to have massive internal bleeding, which leads to a miserable death. Scientists are attempting to formulate a cure or treatment for the virus, so they could stop the prevention and contamination; however, it’s easier said than done. This is why Americans should remain terrified of Ebola, considering that the pathogen has not finished mutating. There’s no telling how dangerous Ebola will become over the decades.

The Ebola Virus is an extremely deadly virus found in Africa. There have been multiple outbreaks across Africa and one in the United States. The Ebola virus basically causes uncontrollable bleeding externally and internally. Then your organs become liquefied. This usually results in death(www.encyclopedia.com). The following report contains info on the characteristics and history of the Ebola Virus.

Viruses have become of great concern all across the world in the last few decades. The virus Ebola has gained tremendous amounts of public and national attention. It is thought that Ebola's effect on humans is restricted to. Viruses that kill people in large masses is a major threat to mankind. The only way to find a cure for Ebola is through our use of science and technology. Ebola has been starting to become a worldwide issue for the last few months but the fact is that Ebola has been around for years. It’s just that people didn’t know or care about it as it was in Africa. Now that is has come to the United States of America it has become a worldwide issue.

The hard hit nations have inadequate capacities to detect, treat and slow down the transmission of EVD. The outbreak consequently overwhelmed governments and health systems that were already inundated. Feeble health systems and a seeming void in effective global health governance resulted into an unprecedented EVD outbreak. To help stop Ebola and contain the situation in those affected countries reflects positively on the donor countries as well. The U.S for one would not just be assisting the nationals of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone but also its own citizens by preventing a possible spread that could be very well associated with exponentially higher costs and health consequences. Currently, the US has no billing or ICD-9 diagnosis code for Ebola13, hampering the ability of health facilities and personnel to comply for ‘Ebola protocols’. Gerard Anderson, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg school of Public health estimates average bills of $18,000 to $24,000 daily including intensive care costs plus costs of losing revenue by isolating patients14. It is additionally not clear whether insurance can or is willing to pay for extras associated with treatment, for instance protective (hazmat) suits,

Since March 2014, in excess of 3,000 individuals have passed from the unstoppable spread of the Ebola infection all through the West African nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Notwithstanding the colossal and miserable loss of human life, the Ebola broad sickness is having shocking and ruinous consequences for these West African economies in a mixed bag of greatly imperative parts/territories by ending exchange, harming cultivating and startling speculators.

SECOND POINT: Although an outbreak in America is highly unlikely, the fact that Ebola has been diagnosed on American soil brings fear to all. Because of its infectiousness and long incubation period, and the banality of early symptoms, it can be difficult to track and contain. We also do not have a cure for this disease, sure we have experimental drugs, but nothing official. The spread has been much quicker in this outbreak than others, affecting both urban and rural areas. Usual protective measures to prevent the spread appear to be less effective in this epidemic. What ebola does to the human body defies reason and is something like out of a horror movie, not a text book. Americans feel hopeless and vulnerable because Ebola is here. The victim who flew from Liberia to Dallas, Texas on September 30th of this year did expose others and there is a risk of it spreading. The Ebola virus is the most terrifying and least-understood virus known to man. We are witnessing the onset of a deadly mutation anticipated and feared for almost four decades. Americans have watched fully informed and trained health care workers contract Ebola.

In the table above, current issues and problems with Laboratory infrastructure and the important ways to address them are highlighted.

Before the Ebola virus, the economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea were progressing. They were experiencing great economic growth and it was all shot down by the Ebola virus. This epidemic across West Africa has killed more people than any other known Ebola outbreak combined (“Ebola: Mapping the outbreak,” 2014). As of now, there is no proven cure for the Ebola virus. Ebola is an infectious and fatal disease, which begins with fever and internal bleeding. Vaccines are being tested currently, and are still being tried to see if they become effective, though no vaccine has been found to cure Ebola. Upon retrieving this virus inside in one’s body, he/she needs to be isolated and taken for medical attention immediately. The odds of receiving the Ebola virus is very low, but there is costs associated in curing and finding a potential cure to Ebola. The cost to treat Ebola can be very expensive and unaffordable for the majority of people. According to NBC News, two patients who were treated at the University of Nebraska’s Medical Center, both combined cost of $1.16 million dollars (Fox, 2014). It averages out to $30,000 a day, per patient. These costs occurred

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?