Why Ebola is that scary.

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The 2014 Ebola epidemic, as United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization emphasized: “is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa”. Almost 30,000 (28,245 till the moment I post this blog) people diagnosed with Ebola in just three countries: Guinea; Sierra Leone and Liberia. And 11,293 of them died in just couple months. That is around 39.98% death rate. Actually that is only the death rate with people diagnosed with Ebola in those three countries. Based on the information published by WHO, Ebola’s human disease case fatality rates(CFR, another abbreviation…) is 54%, that is one of the highest in the 21st century when people thought we have the capacity to do many things we could never ever thinking about.

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Ebola even speared to the states and caused huge panic all around the world. The first case in U.S. was found out tests positive for the virus is Dr. Spencer, 33, in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea. At least three people he had contact with in recent days have been placed in isolation. He had traveled on the A and L subway lines Wednesday night, visited a bowling alley in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and then took a taxi back to Manhattan. The next morning, he reported having a fever, raising questions about his health while he was out in public. Before this event, we thought Ebola was far away from us. Since it has come to us, we need to learn more about it.

As I mentioned before, Ebola mainly occurs in Africa where most developing countries are located there. So someone doubts that poor economy and backward science technology contributes to the high death rate of Ebola. However, this might is not the case. Even thought they can afford the fees, there are no complete treatments available in the whole world now. Until today, the ZMapp by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, an experimental treatment towards Ebola is still under development and the U.S. government has granted them fast track so that they could be consumed for patients even more faster under FDA’s investigation.

The reason why it took so long for us to find out the cure is partly “due to the difficulty in obtaining samples and studying the disease in the relatively remote areas in which the outbreaks occur. In addition, a high degree of biohazard containment is required for laboratory studies and clinical analysis”. It is said by Sifferlin that the reason why Ebola did not get as sprayed as Africa is possibly due to the advanced technology environment.

One more reason why Ebola is that scary is the symptom is confusing. As early stage patient with Ebola fells nothing different than catching a cold. No one would pay too much attention on a symptom like that. While after the early stage it could suddenly cause organs bleeding therefore cause death to patients. In most cases, patients don’t even when know they get Ebola disease. “Texas Presbyterian Hospital failed to diagnose Duncan with Ebola right away, despite his Ebola-like symptoms and the fact he’d been in Liberia.” Furthermore, it makes Ebola harder to be diagnosed with the incubation period that “The time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is 2 to 21 days”, said by WHO.

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Even though it already passed the most dangerous period of time, I think I still should talk about this in the end. What we could do is always keeps a personal hygiene, and if somehow Ebola-like symptom ever happens, I honestly wish it happens to nobody, please go to the hospital right away and ask for help so that it will not miss the best time to cure.

 

Resources:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/

https://dribbble.com/shots/153963-Vintage-New-York-Travel-Poster

Sifferlin, Alexandra. “How Ready Is New York City for Ebola?” Time 23 Oct. 2014: 34-35. Print. 3 Nov. 2014.