Premium Essay

Ebola Virus Epidemic Analysis

Submitted By
Words 1263
Pages 6
During the three-year period between 2013 and 2016, West Africa was plagued by an Ebola virus epidemic that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, on top of damaging the region’s economy to near-crippling levels (World Health Organization 2018). The outbreak began in the areas of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, with the first documented incident occurring in December of 2013 (World Health Organization 2018). The disease was extremely dangerous, with a fatality rate of just under 60% for hospitalized patients, and above 70% in cases where the individual was not hospitalized (World Health Organization 2018). The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and did not revoke this until March …show more content…
Symptoms are easily dismissed as common symptoms of the flu or other relatively tame conditions: the early symptoms include headaches, fever, sore throat, and body aches (World Health Organization 2018). As the disease progress, a patient may begin experiencing gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea and vomiting, and then organ failure ensues, usually targeting the renal system and liver (World Health Organization 2018). Symptoms worsen as time goes on, and a patient will experience both internal and external bleeding; as expected, the disease is extremely fatal, with a fatality rate of between 25% and 90% depending on the region and how soon a patient his hospitalized, though the average is 50% (World Health Organization 2018). Ebola is spread through bodily fluids, and science has shown that semen and breast milk can carry the virus for several months after recovery; previously infected individuals must undergo testing twice to ensure that they can engage in safe sexual practices without endangering their partner (World Health Organization …show more content…
Drone technology is very advanced now, and drones can be used to travel to hard-to-reach locations to transport potentially life-saving medication and equipment faster than paramedics or other authorities would be able to. Governments and healthcare organizations have already made use of drone technology to head to accident sites and to areas in the aftermath of natural disasters to look for survivors and assist in transporting medical supplies (REFERENCE). Deploying drones to distribute medications will help allocate manpower to the areas that need it most, or provide life-saving help faster than could be provided otherwise. The feed between the drone pilot and the camera can also be used to generate site reports and patient reports, showing the pilot the state of the patient in some cases, allowing the pilot to gauge the severity of the

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Health, Education, Poverty and Economy

...education, poverty and Economy) Article: (Ebola: Economic Impact Already Serious; Could Be “Catastrophic” Without Swift Response) According to the World Bank if the Ebola virus continues to escalate in these affected countries such as Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone; its economic impact could grow eight fold dealing a potentially catastrophic blow to the already fragile states. The Analysis concluded that the economic cost can be limited if the national and international respond quickly in containing the Ebola epidemic. The analysis estimates the short-term impact on output to be 2.1 percentage points of GDP in Guinea (reducing growth from 4.5 percent to 2.4 percent); 3.4 percentage points in Liberia (reducing growth from 5.9 percent to 2.5 percent); and 3.3 percentage points in Sierra Leone (reducing growth from 11.3 percent to 8 percent). This forgone output corresponds to $359 million in 2014 prices. However, if Ebola is not contained, these estimates rise to $809 million in the three countries alone. In Liberia, the hardest hit country, the High Ebola scenario sees output hit 11.7 percentage points in 2015 (reducing growth from 6.8 percent to -4.9 percent). The food prices are now rising due to response of shortages, panic buying, and speculation; which cause a dramatic impact on the economy. To help stop the spread of Ebola The World Bank Group has put together $230 million financing package for the three countries hardest hit by the Ebola crisis. This also help communities...

Words: 594 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Marburg And Ebola In Richard Preston's The Hot Zone

...It’s 1980, New Year’s Day. Womanizer Charles Monet takes a hike with one of his girlfriends to Kitum Cave in Mount Elgon National Park, Kenya. On that fateful day, Monet would contract the Marburg virus- a virus that would make him bleed profusely, vomit violently, and diminish his internal organs. Ultimately resulting in an agonizing death, Monet’s contraction of Marburg would set the stage for Richard Preston’s masterpiece, The Hot Zone. Preston paints a picture of the effects of the filoviruses, Marburg and Ebola, on their victims and the general public. With each infection, hysteria and panic spread of the unpredictable pathogens. Matters only get worse when a form of Ebola infects a monkey house in Reston, Virginia- Right outside Washington...

Words: 307 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Global Health Issues in Behavioral Finance

...Regret Aversion Market Implications a. Every market in today’s economy was impacted either directly or indirectly by the SARS epidemic. i. Most saw measurable decreases in GDP b. Global cost of lost economic activity due to SARS was approximately $54 billion Conclusion a. Economic damage caused by SARS can be attributed to the behavioral finance emotional biases of loss aversion and regret aversion affecting investors globally. Global Health Issues, Behavioral Finance and the Markets: The Role of Behavioral Finance in how Global Health Issues Impact the Economy Jonathan Davis David A Kennedy Lee V Smith Tayler T Young Syed Zain T Zaidi November 10, 2015 University of Houston- Downtown Global Health Issues, Behavioral Finance and the Markets: The Role of Behavioral Finance in how Global Health Issues Impact the Economy With globalization on the rise, infectious diseases that appear in one country have the opportunity to spread rapidly to others. Recent examples include the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the 2014 outbreak of the Ebola virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 8,098 individuals became infected worldwide with SARS and 774 of those individuals ultimately died from the illness (CDC, 2005). While Ebola killed 5,160 out of the 14,098 people infected with the virus (Barber, 2014). Collectively, though tragic, the outbreaks did not lead to the global health impact many feared. However, they had...

Words: 1051 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Hot Zone

...John Doe English 112P 4 November 2009 Historical Perspective on The Hot Zone The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a nonfiction book with aspects of a novel. Sometimes called a bio-thriller, it is about the Ebola virus in America. It was written to address a time of fear about viruses in the United States in a time of increased international interaction. Although its impact is negligible, it reflects the nervous attitude of the time. Richard Preston writes narrative nonfiction. Narrative nonfiction is a hybrid style of writing that utilizes the framework of nonfiction with aspects of a novel, dialogue, for instance. Preston favors this style and wrote his dissertation on it during his graduate studies in Princeton. Previously, Preston wrote non-fiction on science such as Astronomy and on History; later his focus shifts to the science of Microbiology. In 1992 Richard Preston wrote an article in The New Yorker, entitled “Crisis in the Hot Zone.” Two years later, this article became the foundation for his non-fiction book, The Hot Zone, which documents the appearance of Ebola in the United States during the late eighties. At the time The Hot Zone was conceived, free trade policies during President George H. W. Bush’s administration were still making an impact worldwide. Bush set forth global objectives, renewing an interest in globalization under the belief that a global market will alleviate America’s growing deficit. Furthermore, he spearheaded the construction of North...

Words: 1038 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Inaccurate Medical History

...made health information exchange possible. Health information exchange is a heath data clearinghouse or a group of health care organizations who enter into an interoperability pact and agree to share data between their various health information technology systems. The development in information technology has led to a significant change in the health care system all over the world, it has led to providing better health care for patients and it has also helped in achieving health equity. Integrating information technology into the health care system has made electronic health information (EHI) possible. Electronic health information is the recording and storing of patients’ data to facilitate and improve health care delivery and to allow analysis of this information for health care practitioners and health government agencies or health related bodies. These data are used for the implementation of policies to deliver better health care services. The role of information technology cannot be overemphasized in the health care system because it does not just help provide accurate patient record, it also helps medical practitioners better understand patients’ medical history. Health information system and technology help in having a comprehensive, error-free, up-to-date patient history empowers doctors to treat ailments accurately, it also prevents over prescription, which could be fatal. Without EHI, medical practitioners would have to rely on personal health information which traditionally...

Words: 1808 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Ebola and Isis

...television, navigate your newsfeed on Facebook, or share what’s trending on Twitter, and you’ll understand that if ISIS won’t destroy America, Ebola will finish the job. What’s perhaps even more frightening is that a vast majority of Americans; educated, practical, and rationally thinking Americans, have jumped on this bandwagon to “protect” our great land from the fearful terrorist group and deadly virus. However, has anyone ever challenged the threat level these issues pose? Has anyone questioned the idea, that perhaps more threatening issues are already prevalent though our society? Traditionally, this burden falls on journalism, to explore and expose the true problems in a society. However, media outlets, rather than practically and truthfully reporting on these issues, are instead perpetuating half-fact rumors. This ultimately begs the question: Has American media lost the true essence of journalism, the objective spreading of information? Does it choose only to focus on that which capitalizes viewership?   According to a statement by a spokesperson for the National Institute of Health, "The chances of an average American who hasn't visited Africa getting Ebola are so vanishingly small, it's almost non-quantitative". So why has the media ensured that nearly every news report since the outbreak in Africa reinforce the idea that the Ebola virus is a threat to the American people? It’s simple; stories like these have every aspect of drama that the American audience so desperately...

Words: 1769 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Mahmud999

...million folks. Whether the health authorities in Brazil and also the leadership at the WHO have taken too long to urge to the current purpose may be a subject of discussion among the international health community. The Brazilian government says its response once it had been 1st alerted by the doctors regarding the weird symptoms they were seeing was driven by the proof. “It was too early," told Claudio Maierovitch, director of the health ministry's Dept of malady investigation. "There were such a lot of different infectious prospects and Zika had ne'er been seen during this half of a sphere." And the person told that once Zika was known, the authorities’ response was supported information of the malady. Previous outbreaks of Zika, an epidemic 1st known in 1947 in Republic of Uganda, had occurred in little and scattered rural populations in Africa and Southeast Asia and also the symptoms were relatively kind. "We based mostly our response on the knowledge base obtainable, that Zika caused a gentle unwellness while not major complexity," told Mr.Maierovitch. "But as early as we tend to saw that there was association with abnormality, we tend to reacted in respond time." critics say that the World Health Organization has been slow to act once the link between Zika and microcephalus was created, and will have declared an emergency as presently as that decided....

Words: 2157 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

The Digital Divide in Third World Countries

...believe this needs to change, not because they are missing out, but because it can be a matter of life or death. Despite the rapid spread of technology, only 1.16 Billion people have a working phone line. That means 6.14 Billion people do not have a way to call for help. For example if the people of Haiti did not have cell phones when they were hit by the massive earthquake, they would not have gotten the help they needed as quickly as they did. Many people have heard about the Ebola virus that swept across Africa and the sub- Saharan dessert areas, because many of the villages that were severely affected by the disease did not have active phone lines, they could not reach out to get medical help. Instead many had to walk anywhere between 10-50 miles to the closest doctor. Places like the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the WHO (World Health Organizations), use cellphone data to track the pattern of diseases and epidemics. Because there were little to few working phone lines when studying the Ebola virus, many people died...

Words: 1051 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

...and the Band Played on

...“And the Band Played On” Film Analysis “And the Band Played On” was a very informative film. It follows Dr. Don Francis, from his involvement in the Ebola outbreak in Africa to his work on the first cases of AIDS in San Francisco to his departure from the CDC. It provides viewers with the truth about the discovery of HIV and AIDS, shedding light on the cover ups and lack of concern of numerous government officials in the 1980s. I found the film to be an eye-opener, providing me with a history lesson on AIDS while showing me just how corrupt people can be. The Facts I learned a great deal about the disease and its beginnings that I probably never would have known had it not been for the film. Before viewing the film, I was unaware of the details surrounding the discovery of AIDS. I knew that it was a growing concern during the 1980s and that it was mostly linked with homosexual males, but I did not know anything specific. From the film, I learned that the first case was a woman in 1977 (Pillsbury, Sanford & Spottiswoode, 1993). Though I was aware that AIDS was never a disease that only affected homosexual men, I still found this surprising. Bathhouses were also a major concern during the AIDS crisis, which I was also news to me (Pillsbury et al., 1993). I was unaware that bathhouses where many gay men met others for anonymous sex were so commonplace in San Francisco in the 1980s, let alone that there was a push to close them because of their role in the spread...

Words: 1105 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Emerging Diseases

...Peer-Reviewed Journal Tracking and Analyzing Disease Trends pages 557–740 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Peter Drotman Associate Editors Paul Arguin, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Charles Ben Beard, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA Ermias Belay, Atlanta, Georgia, USA David Bell, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Sharon Bloom, Atlanta, GA, USA Mary Brandt, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Corrie Brown, Athens, Georgia, USA Charles H. Calisher, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA Michel Drancourt, Marseille, France Paul V. Effler, Perth, Australia David Freedman, Birmingham, Alabama, USA Peter Gerner-Smidt, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Stephen Hadler, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Nina Marano, Nairobi, Kenya Martin I. Meltzer, Atlanta, Georgia, USA David Morens, Bethesda, Maryland, USA J. Glenn Morris, Gainesville, Florida, USA Patrice Nordmann, Fribourg, Switzerland Didier Raoult, Marseille, France Pierre Rollin, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Ronald M. Rosenberg, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA Frank Sorvillo, Los Angeles, California, USA David Walker, Galveston, Texas, USA Senior Associate Editor, Emeritus Brian W.J. Mahy, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, UK Managing Editor Byron Breedlove, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Copy Editors Claudia Chesley, Laurie Dietrich, Karen Foster, Thomas Gryczan, Jean Michaels Jones, Shannon O’Connor, P. Lynne Stockton Production William Hale, Barbara Segal, Reginald Tucker Editorial Assistant Jared Friedberg Communications/Social Media Sarah Logan Gregory Founding Editor Joseph E. McDade, Rome, Georgia, USA Emerging Infectious Diseases...

Words: 18561 - Pages: 75

Free Essay

Incurable

... Prologue  The sun is about to set. That fuzzy and pitch-black place with a nostalgic hymn of the approaching dying twilight is already filled with his desire to wake up from his endless nightmare. Holding a golden ring on his right hand, he is calmly watching over the horizon as he tries to feel better, but he cannot for he is still caged within the memories of the wicked past and within the present catastrophe. He gradually leaned his back to that mango tree where their chained names are carved inside a heart. For the past 99 days, it has been his desperate habit to wait there for the coming of that person whom he knows will never arrive. Then liquids of emotions flowed out of his vision as his heart drowns with it. Nothing can comfort him since when that peak of joy bounced him out and turned him to be a man he is now. He was never insane yet he doesn’t already know of whom he is and even the people around him; he is just hopeless and unable to keep step of what happened for the past year. Grief and fear never left him and continued to slaved him and took control over his moral and physical character which paved him to be a ‘hard to decipher person’. However, he still lives for he has still an inch of dignity despite of great loneliness. Moreover, his heart is still shouting aloud saying, “I will never leave you..”  Chapter I  It’s Saturday. Lesther is very excited for he will be seeing his long-time girlfriend again to celebrate their 4th year anniversary. Of...

Words: 11857 - Pages: 48

Premium Essay

Pearls Before H1N1

...• ^ International Committee on onomy of Viruses. "The Universal Virus Database, version 4: Influenza A". http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/ICTVdB/00.046.0.01.htm. [dead link] 1. ^ a b c d e f "Swine influenza". The Merck Veterinary Manual. 2008. ISBN 1442167424. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/121407.htm. Retrieved April 30, 2009. 2. ^ [1][dead link] 3. ^ Heinen PP (15 September 2003). "Swine influenza: a zoonosis". Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow. ISSN 1569-0830. http://www.vetscite.org/publish/articles/000041/print.html. "Influenza B and C viruses are almost exclusively isolated from man, although influenza C virus has also been isolated from pigs and influenza B has recently been isolated from seals." 4. ^ Bouvier NM, Palese P (September 2008). "THE BIOLOGY OF INFLUENZA VIRUSES". Vaccine 26 Suppl 4 (Suppl 4): D49–53. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.07.039. PMC 3074182. PMID 19230160. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=3074182. 5. ^ Kimura H, Abiko C, Peng G et al. (April 1997). "Interspecies transmission of influenza C virus between humans and pigs". Virus Research 48 (1): 71–9. doi:10.1016/S0168-1702(96)01427-X. PMID 9140195. 6. ^ a b Matsuzaki Y, Sugawara K, Mizuta K et al. (February 2002). "Antigenic and Genetic Characterization of Influenza C Viruses Which Caused Two Outbreaks in Yamagata City, Japan, in 1996 and 1998". Journal of Clinical Microbiology 40 (2): 422–9. doi:10.1128/JCM.40.2.422-429...

Words: 8637 - Pages: 35

Premium Essay

Case Study 1

...1 Introduction to Clinical Applications Objectives In this chapter we will study • various approaches to the study of disease; • the role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; • common causes of disease; • the distinction between signs and symptoms of disease; • terms used to describe the time course of a disease; and • common abbreviations for medical specialists and specialties. Homeostasis and Disease The body’s tendency to maintain internal stability is called homeostasis. Examples include the body’s relatively stable temperature, blood glucose concentration, hormone levels, acid-base balance, and electrolyte balance. When physiological variables deviate too much from their set point, the body activates negative feedback loops that tend to restore stability and maintain health. In some cases, such as the stoppage of bleeding, positive feedback loops are activated to bring about rapid change. If the attempt to regain homeostasis fails, disease results. There is a strong emphasis in medicine today on promoting wellness through prevention. However, this manual focuses on what happens when prevention fails, homeostasis is disrupted, and disease occurs. The Study of Disease Disease (illness) is any deviation from normal that interferes with correct, life-sustaining bodily function. Literally, the word means dis-ease, the opposite of ease (comfort and normal function). Disease may have underlying structural foundations, such as a broken bone, and its...

Words: 3427 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

1.1: 1 Needle Exchange Case Study

...Hepatitis B (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1982). In order to reduce the transmission of Hepatitis B, the first needle exchange program opened in Amsterdam in 1984, the same year HIV was identified as the virus that causes AIDS (Vlahov et al., 2001). In 1985, Des Jarlais, and Hopkins called for more access to sterile needles for injection drug users in order to prevent the transmission of HIV (Des Jarlais & Hopkins, 1985). The Health Commissioner of New York City considered the idea of needle exchange in the city as well (Des Jarlais & Hopkins, 1985). However, the African American leaders in the New York City community were strongly opposed to the idea (Norman, Vlahov, & Moses, 1995). In 1988, Buning released the first ever evaluation of a needle exchange program, from the program that had been created in Amsterdam in 1984 (Buning, 1991). Buning discovered that there was a decline in the frequency of injecting and needle sharing among the participants in the program. After the first evaluation of the program had been conducted and Buning’s favorable results had been verified, countries like the United Kingdom and Australia began to implement their own needle exchange programs as a part of their own country-wide efforts to combat the rapidly growing AIDS epidemic. The United States began the first publicly supported needle exchange program in Tacoma, Washington in 1988, and later in New York City, Portland, and San Francisco in 1989 (Hagan, Reid & Des Jarlais, 1991; Anderson...

Words: 2610 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Health in Tropics

...ESSAY 3  HEALTH IN THE TROPICS STATE OF THE TROPICS causes of mortality. Improvements in quality of life through improved health are harder to quantify accurately at scale. Life Expectancy Life expectancy is covered in detail elsewhere in the State of the Tropics, and reports that between 1950 and 2010 the gap between life expectancy in the Tropics and the Rest of the World has narrowed. Over this period life expectancy in the Tropics increased by 22.8 years to 64.4 years and infant mortality reduced by 36%. The rate of change of mortality and morbidity has increased over the last two decades influenced by a range of different factors. Underlying life expectancy data are aggregated data, collected by the WHO to document the changing patterns of mortality. Table E3.1 provides the top ten causes of mortality in rank order over the last decade. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for two-thirds of global deaths in 2011 and infectious diseases for one-third. In 2000 the relative proportions were 60% NCDs and 40% infectious diseases. This rapid shift reflects the massive scale up in recent efforts to prevent and treat a number of major infectious diseases. Although improvements in maternal and child mortality have been made these still remain unacceptably high. In 2011, 6.9 million children under the age of five died, 99% of these in low and middle income countries. Malaria, despite the enormous scale up in control activities still ...

Words: 5155 - Pages: 21