Ebola Effect

Kora Saint-Lot        

Mr. Youell

Science

28.08.14

Ebola epidemic

Over 2,473 people have fallen ill and about 1,350 have died since the December 2013 outbreak started. This is by far the biggest epidemic ever cause by this disease and scientist still haven’t found a cure. But a number of remedies seem to be surfacing although they have never been tried on humans but the scientist hope that at least some of the medicines and vaccines may soon bring this epidemic to an end. Even though, it will take months to test, produce and bring to clinics but scientist hope that these vaccines, even if not entirely tested will help slow down the illness. Margaret Chan Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic: “a public health emergency of international concern.” because it has been going on longer than any other Ebola epidemic and has affected more people, and it is still not under control.

Health officials and other experts say the condition is so bad that using the experimental vaccines into use straight away might be worth the risk. Using the un-entirely tested vaccines will have its downsides. If the patient recover from Ebola it would be hard to pin point whether it was due to any treatment and if certain vaccines fail to work this could make the despair of the victims worse and may even keep them from coming to the clinics/hospitals out of fear. Although if the drugs work it would encourage the victims to come to the clinics/hospitals. Starting the treatment is the best hope of reducing the spread of this deadly virus and making the vaccine available would help hire more doctors and nurses for the clinics and hospitals. There are still many more needed to treat all the affected people yet all the nurses and doctors know they could risk catching the virus so recruiting them is harder. (Fig 2)

This year’s epidemic has reached a largely populated area of West Africa. It has continued to spread to the neighboring countries: Guinea Sierra Leone and Liberia. There are several treatment camps and laboratories in each country but they do not suffice to fulfill the needs of the affected.  (Seen on Fig1) None of these countries had ever been affected by Ebola and even before the disease spread many inhabitants were suffering mainly because this region’s poverty is at a very high rate and all of the countries had weak health-care systems before Ebola and now the state is even worse because many nurses and doctors have caught the virus or left in fear of getting infected.

The virus is officially called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, it triggers very high fever and uncontrollable bleeding. The virus spreads through blood and any other bodily fluids. In the past epidemics Ebola have killed 9 out of every 10 people who have been affected. In conclusion I think that the scientist should test the drugs on the ill and see what effects it will have they don’t know what can happen until they test the medication. The scientists may not think this safe but if we don’t react nothing will happen. 

Figure 1: Ebola has continued to spread to the neighboring countries: Guinea Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Figure 2: A nurse washes her hands after taking care of an Ebola affected victim.