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Ebola

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Ebola Virus
Ebola is the virus that is currently discussed in the news today because of its deadly outcome and widespread outbreak on the southeastern Guinea communities in West Africa. First identified as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, the Ebola disease is transported by wild animals yet spread also by human-to-human contact.
Sun et al. (2014) stated in The Washington Post that this single virus may infect over 1.4 million people, is classified as an endemic, and could possibly affect other countries. Authors of the article noted that people were dying in the streets, the outbreak has surged past 5,800 people infected, and so far have been at least 2,800 deaths. Numbers related to the outbreak and subsequent deaths are rising daily. The New England Journal of Medicine (2014) stated the number of deaths related to Ebola is expected to increase by a thousand per week.
According to the article, the citizens of Sierra Leone affected others at the rate of two to one. For every one person who becomes affected with the Ebola virus, then two other people in the population will become ill. The Guinea and Liberia communities are not affected at such an alarming rate, yet the virus is rapidly spreading.
The World Health Organization (WHO) research team noted there are only a small percentage of treatments and vaccines for the virus that are able to treat the virus. The likelihood that the treatment would be available in large quantities is a small percentage. In West Africa, the cases are multiplying every two weeks, thus the large doses need to treat the individuals is not readily available. Two Americans were treated with the experimental drugs and are on the road to recovery from their infection. The ability to have ample supply to treat the multitude of affected in Africa is nonexistent.
USA Today (2014) reports that teams of American Red Cross workers who seek to assist in the epidemic are constantly under assault as they seek to retrieve bodies and disinfect areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials in this article confirm that the efforts to control the outbreak are combated by the people of the African nation. The people of the nation refuse to recognize the overwhelming presence of the disease and believe that those individuals who came to assist in the fight are the actual perpetrators.
The transmission of this virus by bodily fluids such as is noteworthy in the warm climate. Corpses that are transported to burial areas are infectious therefore the traditional handling of dead bodies, including washing, continues the disease dissemination. The struggle to isolate the dead bodies and sick people is overwhelming to the workers.
Continual problems with mass manufacturing of a vaccine and in large enough amounts to compete with the spread, identifies a problem that may be unable to be stopped. The USA Today (2014) article, Piot who is the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-discoverer of Ebola was quoted as saying “ we are reaching the limit of what classic containment measures can achieve.” The future of the West African people is grim in relation to the Ebola virus outbreak.

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