Analysis Of The Ebola Outbreak

In March 2014, a viral disease transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids of either humans or animals began to spread throughout West Africa. This was the Ebola Outbreak, the subject of continuous widespread highly politicized media coverage. Soon after the outbreak, due to the high fatality rate of the virus, it became a global threat creating a state of confusion and hysteria. Unable to understand the scientific and medical explanations behind the virus, many citizens all over the world sought out information about the virus through scientific and medical articles and media, that employed the use of metaphors to help the general public understand what the virus was, and the gravity of the situation. In this paper, the

Some metaphors work better than others at enlightening people. Of all the metaphors describing Ebola in the article, I'll be analyzing the metaphor of "Ebola As War". Throughout the "The Ebola Wars" article, Ebola is described as an "aggressive enemy that attacks and takes control of the cell's machinery" (Preston, 2014). It is depicted as a "formidable enemy", killing hundreds of thousands of people (Preston, 2014). Whereas Ebola is ascribed the role of the villain, the health workers are described as the soldiers and fighters, whose main goal is combating and defeating the Ebola. Metaphors such as "the scientist has the enemy [Ebola] in sight, we [the health professional team] need to recognize what we are battling with", and "to win the war, we [the health professionals] must know our enemy (Preston, 2014). The healthcare facilitates set up as a place to treat the outbreak were not also safe from war metaphors. The facilities were described as the "Ebola War Room" where the plans to defeat Ebola were formulated (Preston, 2014). All these metaphors reflect a typical war like situation where, in order for one party to win the war, the other must first be recognized and