Spread of Ebola Virus

It had all started by the year of 2013, when a 18 month old boy was diagnosed with a disease called Ebola. Other cases within that year were five additional but as 2014 had come by Ebola has spread through three different capitals. Making the cases for this disease to grow enormously from there just being one to five cases to now having forty nine cases and by the year of 2016 there was an amount of twenty eight thousands cases that were also affected with the disease Ebola. The sudden rise from 2014 to 2016 was not just affecting children or adults everyone was becoming affected by this disease. The cause of the sudden rise was because in West Africa they do not have the proper sanitation to cure a persona, nor have the right health education to be able to help one another. Since there was no one of who was familiar with Ebola means there was no surveillance they were just trying anything to help the patient which had made it difficult to continent the disease so that is why the disease had did a sudden outbreak because quickly the disease had spread.

Disease Description

        Ebola is a rare and deadly disease most affecting people and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees). It is caused by an infection with one of five known Ebola virus species, four of which can cause disease in people are Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus) ,Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus), Ta?? Forest virus (Ta?? Forest ebolavirus, formerly C??te d'Ivoire ebolavirus), Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus). Reston virus (Reston ebolavirus) is known to cause disease in nonhuman primates and pigs, but not in people, according to Center for Disease Control. Of course everyone wants to know with every disease does it spread or who does it affect. Well with Ebola it does spread and the way it's spread  is people through direct contact with bodily fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from EVD. This can occur when a person touches the infected body fluids (or objects that are contaminated with them), and the virus gets in through broken skin or mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, or mouth. The virus can also spread to people through direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected fruit bats or primates. People can get the virus through sexual contact as well. (CDC, 2018) So as you can see the brief description about Ebola is almost like any other disease but can be worse that is why Ebola is known to have a high death rate compared to many other diseases.

History of Disease

        The main question is when did this disease come upon and where there as many cases as there is now? We all want to know could the disease been prevented from spreading and what they didn't do to actually stop from spreading. Well it all started from the year of 1976 in all different parts of Africa which was known to be the deadliest disease and still continues to be as of today. According to Center of Disease Control Prevention there were two outbreaks to Ebola and one of the outbreaks is where the disease got the name Ebola. For the first outbreak it had occurred in the  Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) which was next to a river that had already had the name of Ebola River so since the first outbreak occurred there and next to the river they suggested that would be the name of this disease. Now for the second outbreak it had occurred in South, Sudan which was not very far from the first outbreak it is about 60 miles away. Now that we have looked in the history of where the name came from and when did the disease come upon, the question is where there a lot of cases as the 2014 and 2016 outbreak? Well actually there wasn't there were just a few cases but eventually as the years past is when the disease had increased enormously which making there being more cases and event facility cases were also involved as well. Because Ebola is known as the deadliest disease so if you are not taken care properly nor who is taking care of you has a good hygiene that is when you lead into worst consequences which it may be too late to cure the disease that it takes over your body which then leads into dying.

Symptoms and Significance

        When having a certain disease or just be sick in general we have what we call symptoms. Each disease leads our body to have certain symptoms and not all disease have the same symptoms some can be worse where you probably don't driver not working anymore because this certain disease could take your life away with a snap. For Ebola the symptoms you would tend to get are fevers, more then before headaches so they are constantly there, muscle pain, weakness because once you have the disease your body is starting to give up if your taking the symptoms serious. Other symptoms can be like fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain they will tend to come up all of sudden where it can tolerated at first but once the disease is in you are you have not gone to the doctor the pain to the stomach becomes more severe where you will need to see the doctor but the suggestion that everyone knows if you are feeling a certain pain that you usually don't get or not feeling yourself you should already have seen the doctor. Lastly for the last symptoms that you will get with the Ebola disease is you will tend to get bruises that are unexpected and the same for bleeding if your already in that part of not knowing the disease you have but have that kind of symptom that is saying you waited too long for you to wake up and be bleeding out of unexpected areas or bruises over your body that you do not recognize of.

        Since this disease is fatal and can only cure for certain ages if you have the best luck the disease will affect your body after twenty two days, after the twenty two days eight to ten days will lead to having the symptoms that were described previously.  The only way someone can cure from any disease or being sick is if we have a good immune system because if we do not have a good immune system the medication or treatment that is provided for cure our bodies will not handle it, nor if were just fighting in general to not let the disease take over body we need our immune system to be up and working double then before. The most important thing is when we are sick is we go to the hospital or a clinic we as people that are sick does not know if there hygiene is good or not we just take the risk and all we want is to get better. But when you have a deadly disease in you that is what is important is to check the person that is taking care of me hygiene is clean and the making sure he/she is not reusing things from other patients. That is why a lot of diseases have spread so quickly is because hygiene is the number one cause to a lot of the cases.

        What is significance? Well significance is what is important about the disease and what you should know if you didn't already. According to Livescience they mentioned what is important is determining if the patient has a patient zero. What is patient zero? This determines  the person's history which can help researchers determine how and when the outbreak started, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This is very important and is very helpful the reason why it is, is because if one person goes to the doctor and that is when they discovered they have Ebola disease that determines where he/she has been at previously and that is when they can send out a warning of who else can be affected or to stay away from that area. You can't get the disease from just going places it can also be someone you're around that may have the disease and they may not be aware or they are and have not done anything to prevent others from getting the disease. That is why it is important to always taking vaccinations you may get the disease with taking vaccinations that you thought it would prevent it, but from someone not getting vaccinations would get the disease ten times worse than the ones that have taken the vaccinations.

Emergence/Data

Since the outbreak occurred in 2014 it had affected around seven countries, the ones that had the most cases where in West Africa had the amount of 28,616 cases of EVD and 11,310 deaths were reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. There were an additional 36 cases and 15 deaths that occurred when the outbreak spread outside of these three countries. (CDC, 2018) Ebola did affect the United States the ones who got infected are the ones that were medical workers that were sent to West Africa to take of the patients that were already diagnosed with the disease. Since the disease does spread easily it had affected seven medical workers that need to be transferred to back to the United States to get treated properly, but out of that seven of medical workers one did end up dying. The ones that have a higher risk of getting Ebola disease are the ones that are working in healthcare  because they are being directly exposed to the disease by the patients are coming in. During the epidemic, Liberia lost 8% of its doctors, nurses, and midwives to EVD. In addition to the devastating effects on the healthcare workforce in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the Ebola epidemic severely impacted the provision of healthcare services and caused setbacks in the treatment and control of HIV, tuberculosis, measles, and malaria in these countries. (CDC, 2018) Does this disease affect children well according to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention The epidemic also had a great impact on children. Nearly 20% of all EVD cases occurred in children under 15 years of age, and an estimated 30,000 children became orphans during this epidemic. As funding and logistics previously dedicated to child vaccination campaigns were redirected to Ebola response or postponed to avoid public gatherings, routine immunizations decreased by 30%, further putting children at risk of getting vaccine-preventable diseases.

For each disease it is not a reasonable price to get cured or get checked by the doctor it does cost an arm and leg maybe just to even get a vaccination depending on where you may go or how severe you have the disease. The epidemic has been estimated to cost a total of $4.3 billion USD. Investments in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone dramatically decreased. Similarly, the  countries experienced a substantial loss in private sector growth, decline in agricultural production leading to concerns about food security, and a decrease in cross-border trade as restrictions on movements, goods, and services increased. (CDC, 2018) For each disease there is risk factors and for Ebola the risk factors can be from healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients and family and friends in close contact with Ebola patients are at the highest risk of getting sick because they may come in contact with infected blood or body fluids. Ebola also can be spread through direct contact with objects (like clothes, bedding, needles, syringes/sharps or medical equipment) that have been contaminated with infected body fluids. Additionally, people can become sick with Ebola after coming in contact with infected wildlife. For example, in Africa, Ebola may spread as a result of handling bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) and contact with infected bats.It is also possible that Ebola could be spread through sex or other contact with semen from men who have survived Ebola. Until more information is known, avoid contact with semen from a man who has had Ebola. It is not known if Ebola can be spread through sex or other contact with vaginal fluids from a woman who has had Ebola.

Methods

When it comes to the methods of disease it comes to transmission, treatments and things that can prevent the disease from spreading if things change a certain way. Ebola transmission would be how the first person was diagnosed with Ebola disease which was through blood contact, cause do remember you can not get Ebola through drinking water, nor through air and can not get Ebola from food that was grown or legally purchased in the US. The other things that can be a transmission to Ebola are what was described previously has to sharp equipment, needles, clothes and medical equipment. Who would have known a disease can be from an animal that can be the cause of the disease It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts.Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest. (WHO, 2018)  As of today there is still no signs or hearings of Ebola having a treatment, what maybe help patients who are diagnosed with Ebola is a lot of IV, antibiotics that are helping the patients survive another thing that will also help as a treatment is being in a incubation due to how of high the this disease spreads the patient can be in a incubation where they are not out into the public spreading the disease to nurse, doctors and healthcare workers. The only way there is a prevention and control to Ebola disease is not being exposed to the wildlife is because animals can contain the disease in them, the same as human to human if your in the area of where you already know it has a high risk of Ebola disease that's a sign that you shouldn't shake someone's hand nor hug the persona that approaches you. What is always required is to wash your hands as much as needed cause our hands carry so much germs and they also pick up every germ out there so this can be a one step closer to be a prevention to this Ebola disease. Another thing would be sexual condact if the person has had the disease is to of course have safe sex by using a condom and about a year from the symptoms that the person did have from Ebola. From there you can tell the person does have a clean hygiene and you won't be affected. Lastly is always making sure that the hospital you are at or clinic is clean and using new medical equipment. When they are about to start touching you and see what hurts, or checking your blood pressure and etc. this needs to be all checked if it is clean and there is not blood on the bed nor the medical equipment, because the last thing you want is to be exposed to any other type of disease or get worse then what you already are.

Conclusion

As the years have gone by and there has not been an outbreak just like back in 2014 and 2016, you can tell there has been some type of prevention from the disease to spread. But that does not mean the disease is completely gone it is still there but it is being controlled. What should be mentioned or to let people know is they still need to be aware of where the disease is still popular at and what risk factors there is, because this can lean into a prevention of the disease to spread. All in all has technology has changed and each year there are new vaccinations and treatments coming out, think it's time to actually have a treatment to the Ebola disease. We never know when another outbreak can occur so it's best to be prepared then not cause the last thing we want to happen is almost having the same cases as 2014 and 2016. In conclusion we are always going to be infected with disease it may not be the ones that been out there for so long or it can be from new ones that have came upon, but if we are taken care of well ,which is clean hygiene and the proper tools this is only to prevent the disease to spread to others.

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