The Ebola Virus: An Epidemic

For the last unit in my Disease class, my classmates and I focused on epidemics and pandemics. We learned about different epidemics and pandemics through out history, and compared it to today's world, seeing how it could be stooped or even spread. For our final action project we looked at epidemics from the past o present and wrote an essay regarding how it spread, started, and the end result. We also calculated some specifics for our disease, detailed in my project below. Overall this project turned out successful, in spite of some difficult obstacles, I overcame them all. Enjoy my project below!

Ebola, or the hemorrhagic fever is an infectious disease that causes internal bleeding, high fevers, and even death. The Ebola virus has been around for a long time. In the Congo, back in 1976, a nun got infected with the disease, calling it ‘’the Marburg Virus”. Not knowing what exactly this disease was, scientist treated it as a common virus. After seeing blood samples under a microscope scientists saw what looked like a worm. Fast forward to 2014, countries such as: Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia are now infected with this disease. The disease is caused by, bush meat. Bush meat or wild meat is non-domesticated animals that are being hunted in often tropical or jungle like areas.

Countries currently effected  

Another cause of this disease is poor sanitation systems located in each area. Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia all lack poor sanitation systems.  The people of these countries have no where to dispose their waste therefore they put it in rivers and, streams. People then use these rivers and streams to clean their household items, which causes them to become ill. The common symptoms for this disease are; Diarrhea, Nausea/Vomiting, stomach pain, chest pain/bleeding from the eyes,nose, and bruising, chills/weakness joint, and muscle aches. Ebola is an epidemic, therefore people with Ebola have a high R Nought. An R Nought is a basic reproduction number for any disease or outbreak. The R Nought for Ebola is, 1.5 to 2.5 meaning, For every one person who has Ebola, 1.5 to 2.5 people get infected. This R Nought is high therefore it is classified as an epidemic.

Ebola has started to spread because, villagers do not have access to clean meats. These people have to kill undomesticated animals in order to survive which is not their fault in my opinion. Theses people also do not have clean sanitation facility access. Sierra leones sanitation access percentage is a constant 13 percent, from 2004 to 20014. This means that out of all the population of Sierra Leone only 13 percent have access to clean sanitation facilities. This number is below average for access to sanitation facilities . These factors have affected the people of, not only Sierra Leone, but Guinea and Liberia. By having poor sanitation it highers the risk of people getting sick.

Risk Factors for Ebola(AMK 2015)

Many candidates for the Ebola vaccine have been developed, but they have not been approved for humans. According to the FDA (Food and Drug administration), drug Testers around the world have been testing drugs on non-primates, only to find out it does not work. Companies such as Johnson & Johnson (FDA) have been researching since the outbreak became a worldwide issue. Since this outbreak was unexpected, many people were not prepared for it. The FDA has yet to come up with a vaccine, saying they will announce the best one in August of 2015. The aid for these countries were family members because some did  could not afford medical care. Therefore, people must  care for their family members in risk of getting themselves sick. Since these countries now have help with preventing this disease, they are being taught the proper sanitation ways. Also other countries are now testing everyone who enters for Ebola so others won't get infected with the disease. People of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia must be provided with the right tools in order to survive. I believe that providing these countries with another food option rather than bush meat will go a long way to prevent this deadly disease from occurring again. I also think more sanitation facilities should be a common thing throughout these countries. Lastly I think that they should have classes on what is proper sanitation, and how to prevent getting something such as the Ebola virus.



Citations:

June–October 2014." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.

"2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa - Case Counts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

"Ebola: The Worldwide Epidemic." SQ Online. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.