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An essay on Ebola virus
An essay on Ebola virus
An essay about the ebola virus
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A virus that is spreading rapidly and taking the lives of those it affects, is threatening West Africa and the people who live there. The virus is Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever; it began in West Africa and has now arrived in United States. It affects people in various ways and has a multitude of symptoms. The virus has a high mortality rate, spreads quickly, and currently has no cure or vaccination. Although the outbreak of Ebola has the nation in turmoil, the virus may be able to be tamed through extensive testing and laboratory work, precautions and containment of the virus, and understanding the history and background of the virus. Commonly called Ebola, Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and …show more content…
Symptoms can arise two to 21 days after you have come in contact with an affected person (Ebola Virus). More severe symptoms of the virus include: high fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, lack of appetite, coughing or vomiting up blood, bloody diarrhea, or a rash. Symptoms do vary for each patient. To be diagnosed with Ebola blood tests can be taken (Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever). “As there is no treatment or vaccine available, prevention is the most effective way to stop the transmission” (Ebola virus disease in Western Africa …show more content…
Through these outbreaks, many health officials have gained knowledge and experience from working with the virus. They have come up with a plan to prevent the disease from spreading, but neither a cure nor a vaccination has been discovered. Ebola has not been around as long as other sicknesses, but doctors and researchers have had experience with it. Ebola is transmitted to direct contact with an individual. Blood contact with the patient has the highest risk (Klompas et al). Some say that precautions are not being taken as needed and researchers are acting ignorant about the situation, but the people are trying their hardest and doing what they can with what they have currently been given
In the New York Times interview of Richard Preston, the well renowned author of The Hot Zone, is conducted in order to shed some light on the recent Ebola outbreak and the peaked re-interest in his novel. The Hot Zone is articulated as “thriller like” and “horrifying.” Preston uses similar diction and style choices corresponding with his novel. By choosing to use these specific methods he is advertising and promoting The Hot Zone to the audience members that are interested in reading, and reaching out to those who read and enjoyed his novel. He continuously grabs and keeps the reader’s attention by characterizing and personifying Ebola as the “enemy [and] the invisible monster without a face” in order to give the spectators something to grasp and understand the Ebola virus. Along with characterization, Preston uses descriptions with laminate
This revealed to me that no one is exempt from stopping or catching a virus like Ebola.(226 Preston) I live in a society where we don’t have a virus affecting us like there is in Central Africa. This makes me more cautious of the things I would come into contact with such as sick people. It’s not as if that I would disown them if they were sick but I would take more measures to ensure that I wouldn’t catch their cold. Along with this I’ve been looking at the measures I take to ensure no one else would catch my cold or virus and that I can recover from it.
The Hot Zone is a true story about how the knowledge of the Ebola virus was first developed and the background behind it. The Ebola virus kills nine out of ten of its victims and it kills quickly and painfully. It is extremely contagious and the blood and vomit the victim lets out can spread the virus quickly. The Hot Zone goes into detail of the experience of getting to the bottom of the Ebola Virus.
In recent decades, there are high numbers of the disease are breaking out worldwide. West Africa could be one of the most frequent happen area of the incidence of disease. These diseases easy to be spread and them usually can cause high risk of death. Ebola, one of the fast transmissible viruses, outbreaking wide in West Africa area recently. Ebola has caused 5,459 deaths out of 15,351 (Reuters, 2014) cases identified in Africa and the number of death is still climbing.
The Effect. Once a person is infected the incubation period would be 2-21 days. During this time a person is not contagious until the onset of symptoms. The initial symptoms would be The first symptoms of Ebola virus infection are a high fever, strong headaches, and joint and muscle pain. Progressing to bloody diarrhea, vomiting blood and stomach cramps, and internal and external
Ebola, a virus which acquires its name from the Ebola River (located in Zaire, Africa), first emerged in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in 55 villages near the headwaters of the river. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and resulted in the deaths of nine out of every ten victims. Although it originated over 20 years ago, it still remains as a fear among African citizens, where the virus has reappeared occasionally in parts of the continent. In fact, and outbreak of the Ebola virus has been reported in Kampala, Uganda just recently, and is still a problem to this very day. Ebola causes severe viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans and monkeys, and has a 90 % fatality rate. Though there is no cure for the disease, researchers have found limited medical possibilities to help prevent one from catching this horrible virus.
The early symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever are characterized by high fever, chills, malaise and myalgia. The next phase of the disease is characterizes by hematemesis, (the vomiting of blood), diarrhea with blood, abdominal pain, and drained of physical strength, sore throat, edema, confusion, and uncontrolled bleeding at venipuncture sites (Bardi, 2002; Hensley, Jones, Feldmann, Jahrling, & Geisbert, 2005).
Ebola can be spread in a number of ways. Ebola reproduction in infected cells takes about eight hours. Hundreds to thousands of new virus cells are then released during periods of a few hours to a few days. In most outbreaks, transmission from patient to patient within hospitals has been associated within the reuse of needles and syringes. High rates of transmission in outbreaks have occurred from patients to family members who provide nursing care without barriers to prevent exposure to blood, other body fluids such as, vomit, urine and feces. Risk for transmitting the infection appears to be highest during the later stages of illness. Those symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, shock, and frequently hemorrhaging. Even a person who has recovered from the symptoms of the illness may have the virus present in the genital secretions for a short time after. This makes it possible for the virus to be spread by sexual activity. Complete recovery is reached only when none virus’s cells are left in any body fluids. This is quite rare.
...1976, scientists have not developed a complete understanding of the virus, such as it’s natural reservoir. The non-specific symptoms make it difficult to clinically diagnose, though there are laboratory tests that can be done to help diagnose patients. Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever also spreads quickly and easily, especially in hospitals where the proper safety precautions are not taken. Thankfully, scientists and doctors have made a successful vaccination that worked on monkeys and are working on one that will work on humans, hopefully helping decrease the dangerously high death rate and help save many people that may one day become infected.
The symptoms of the two diseases are very different in multiple ways. From the reading, I know that it takes at least three weeks to even show signs of ebola. It takes the red death thirty minutes to show symptoms. Some of the ebola symptoms included chills, dehydration, fever, loss of appetite, nausea, shivering,
After the death of Charles Monet, the stage is set for much more to come. At the time, Monet’s death was considered unknown, because the Ebola virus was not known about at the time. Medication and antibiotics have no effect on someone with the virus, so obviously it’s pretty serious. Ebola is probably one of the most disgusting things anyone could ever imagine. What is basically does is turn your internal organs into liquid that then pours out of every single hole in your body, even the pores in your skin. Another effect of this virus is coughing up your own blood. This happens because the blood clots in your arteries and veins, which forces it to come out of your mouth and other areas. Eventually your skin will just explode from the pressure of all the blood built up in-between your skin and flesh. This virus can be very deceiving because it has the regular symptoms of diseases like malaria and typhoid fever, but it can kill you within a matter of 10 days.
Ebola from everyone’s point of view is seen as inferno. Dr. Steven Hatch’s memorable journey began with him volunteering to leave for Liberia in 2013 to work at a hospital in Monrovia to fight Ebola in one of its most affected areas. There were only a few patients with Ebola when he arrived. The number of patients rapidly increased over his time in Liberia. After six months Ebola was declared a world health emergency and not only were ordinary people outside of the hospital getting the virus but the medical personnel that were tending to the patients had caught it and some of them had even died.
In 1976 the first two Ebola outbreaks were recorded. In Zaire and western Sudan five hundred and fifty people reported the horrible disease. Of the five hundred and fifty reported three hundred and forty innocent people died. Again in 1995 Ebola reportedly broke out in Zaire, this time infecting over two hundred and killing one hundred and sixty. (Bib4, Musilam, 1)
According to the World Health Organization (2014) “Ebola first took place in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan.., in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. [and the] latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name”. The disease has also started spreading through countries such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia (which are West African countries). The United States of America had their first case of Ebola on September 30, 2014, when a man traveling back from Liberia was diagnosed with the disease in Dallas, Texas (CDC 2014). The man did not show symptoms until he reached the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Ebola Symptoms are the following: severe headache, fever, muscle pain, fatigue, weakness, diarrhea, abdominal (stomach) pain, vomiting, and unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising). Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to Ebola, but the average is 8 to 10 days (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). The remains of a deceased individuals infected with Ebola continues to be contagious with Ebola for up to three days after the individual dies. Ebola lives on through bodily fluids such as: tears, saliva, urine, and blood (The Daily Beast Company LLC, 2014). Furthermore, when one dies the bodily contact continues as the body is washed and “wrapped in a shroud, mat or coffin and placed in the ground by several people, where more contamination is possible” (NewsHour Productions LLC, 2015). These sacred burial rituals have contributed to the spread of the disease named