Communicable Disease Paper
While it has not claimed the number of lives that some more prominent communicable diseases have, the Ebola virus remains one of the most feared diseases the planet has ever known. Ebola is the subject of much attention from Hollywood; Ebola outbreaks quickly become public knowledge, and always have the potential to cause a panic. Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever, which causes victims to have a difficult time coagulating blood cells. (Bardi, 2002) The results are gruesome, with the afflicted suffering greatly and rarely surviving. Due to the devastating potential Ebola holds, efforts to control it are unprecedented. Nongovernmental organizations like the World Health Organization are often on the scene of a potential Ebola outbreak within days, working to ensure that the disease does not spread beyond the Ground Zero outbreak. The known outbreaks of Ebola have occurred in African countries like Zaire, predominately because of environmental factors. While it is a brutal killer, Ebola is not an especially hardy specimen; it is very easily killed by the cold, and thus is found in the warm and semi-tropical climates noted in Africa. (Waterman, 1999) In addition, researchers have determined that Ebola is probably carried by monkeys, which are in abundance in Africa; Europe and the United States lacks significant monkey populations, which limits the potential for an outbreak to occur there. Additional factors for why the Ebola virus tends to pop up in African countries must take into account socioeconomic factors. It is well known that many African countries are extremely poor and lacking in basic medical coverage and technology. Many Africans are forced to eat monkeys and bats, which are another suspected carrier of Ebola, in order to avoid starvation. While it is extremely rare for the average human to come into contact with Ebola, the lifestyles of many Africans greatly enhance this possibility. Another way which the socioeconomic status of Africans contributes to the spread of Ebola comes in the disease management phase. Often times, qualified physicians are not present to diagnose Ebola; the initial symptoms are relatively mild, and thus easy to miss for a layperson. (Gonzalez, 2007) When food and clean water are almost impossible for many Africans to afford, it is obvious that qualified doctors will not be readily available. In a developed nation, doctors would very likely catch Ebola at its earliest stages and segregate the afflicted, thus limiting the disease spread. This does not always occur in Africa, due to the poverty level, and is a main reason why Ebola is likely to spread there. Managing the needs of the medical organizations in Africa is no easy task, but primarily comes down to funding issues. Additional aid buys doctors, hospitals, and the medical technology necessary to combat Ebola, as well as less exotic diseases. Most of the gaps in the coverage of Ebola stem from a total lack of money, less than an inefficient strategy for dealing with the problem. One of the best ways to close this gap is to involve organizations like the World Health Organization on the ground level before the disease outbreak is noted. This allows them to get a functioning plan in place, and plan for a way to allocate doctors and resources towards combatting the outbreak of Ebola. In America, the public health community does not spend a great deal of time worrying about the Ebola virus, nor should it. The fact of the matter is that due to environmental factors it is less likely to cause a major problem in the United States. The main way organizations deal with Ebola outbreaks is by quarantine. (Gonzalez, 2007) Since there is no known cure for Ebola, quarantine is the only really effective solution. The Center for Disease Control has practiced its Ebola quarantine numerous times in America in practice, and once for real; there was a potential outbreak in Virginia caused by imported monkeys in nineteen eighty nine. As of right now, medical technology has not caught up to the devastation caused by Ebola. Any plan or attempt to ensure a quality health approach can only be based in quarantine and making a victim as comfortable as possible. Ebola has killed roughly ninety percent of the victims it has infected, which means that it is still a disease which science has not fully grown to understand. In conclusion, the Ebola virus is one of the scariest ailments a person can come down with. Its horrible method of killing, as well as its extremely high mortality rate makes it a fearsome opponent for local doctors, nongovernmental organizations, and state level medical groups. Fortunately for much of the developed world, the environmental and socioeconomic factors make Ebola outbreaks a remote possibility. The current gaps in coverage in the African nations can be fixed by additional funding as well as by increased cooperation between the nations and non-governmental organizations. Overall, Ebola is a frightening disease, but the average American should be far more concerned about the flu or the catching the common cold.

References

Bardi, Jason Socrates (2002). "Death Called a River". Scripps Research Institute http://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20020114/ebola1.html Retrieved February 19, 2011
Waterman, Tara (1999). “Ebola Cote D'Ivoire Outbreaks” Stanford University. http://virus.stanford.edu/filo/eboci.html Retrieved February 19, 2011
Gonzalez, JP; Pourrut, X; Leroy, E (2007). "Ebolavirus and other filoviruses". Current topics in microbiology and immunology