Ebola - What you need to know!
A Brief History of the Ebola Virus
Many people are concerned about the possibility of an Ebola outbreak in the United States. Understanding exactly how it may affect us can help us to prepare. Thus, a little historical reference can go a long way.
Ebola was first recognized in 1976 when it appeared in Sudan (modern day South Sudan) and Zaire (modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was named after the Ebola River and there are actually five different strains of Ebola, each with similar properties, though one of them affects only animals.
The origins of Ebola are still shrouded in mystery, though scientists surmise that it probably first came from fruit bats. Each subsequent outbreak is believed to have been started in some way by a human catching it from an infected animal. Hunting wild animals is common in African nations and the virus can be contracted from eating tainted meat, so this is the most likely scenario.
The first case of Ebola outbreak, in 1976, claimed just over 400 lives. The next recorded outbreak occurred 13 years later in 1995. This one actually happened in the US, in the state of Virginia. Four individuals became infected from some imported monkeys, but the viral strain - Reston - was not the sort that was fatal to humans.
Another large outbreak occurred later in the DRotC which resulted in 250 deaths out of just over 300 cases. Five years after that, Uganda experienced an outbreak that claimed 224 lives. There was yet another, much smaller, outbreak the following year at the border of Gabon and the DRotC and a slightly larger outbreak one year later in the DRotC that killed 125 people. The most recent outbreak aside from the one we are experiencing now was in 2007. Again it was in the DRotC, though it also spread to Uganda. Which leads us to 2014 and an outbreak that has escalated across several West African countries and has even spread in a minor capacity to non-Third World Countries.
How Dangerous is Ebola, Really?
One of the big questions on everyone’s mind right now is whether Ebola is as dangerous as many think it is. The answer to that question is, however, not as simple as a “yes” or “no”. There are several factors that contribute to the danger that the Ebola virus imposes upon people.
The main thing that makes Ebola so dangerous is the fact that it has an approximate 50% fatality rate. This rate is much higher in places where people can not get proper medical attention, getting as high as 88% in the worst-affected Third World countries. Within First World countries, medical treatment is abundant and the fatality rate is closer to the average.
What makes Ebola much less dangerous than the majority of diseases out there is that it’s incredibly hard to catch. It’s not airborne and can’t be transmitted through casual contact, so typical day-to-day interactions will not cause Ebola to branch out and become an epidemic. It takes bodily fluids to spread Ebola, the most common of these being blood. Sweat can not spread the virus and saliva only works if the person in question is showing obvious physical signs of sickness. Mosquitoes also can not transmit the virus.
If a person is showing no symptoms, than Ebola is not contagious, so there is a window of time in which medical professionals can diagnose the disease before there is a risk. Ebola also loses its ability to spread once the infected person has recovered.
When left untreated, the most common cause of death among Ebola patients is low blood pressure due to lack of fluids. Death will usually occur approximately 6 to 16 days after symptoms begin and the final stages of the disease will often cause the infected to fall into a coma.
Thus, though Ebola is highly fatal, one of the major causes of death is insufficient health care. This is why countries in West Africa see deaths numbering in the thousands while the US and other First World countries barely see any cases, let alone mass deaths.
Identifying the Symptoms of Ebola
One of the best ways to prepare yourself against the Ebola virus is to be able to identify the various symptoms that are associated with infection. If you notice someone who exhibits the symptoms or find that you may be infected, you’ll be able to more easily head to your local hospital and get checked out, just in case.
First and foremost, once infected with Ebola it takes approximately 8 to 10 days on average for the first symptoms to appear. Until they do appear, an infected person is not contagious, so there’s no risk of them spreading the virus unwittingly. While 8 to 10 days is the average timing, Ebola can manifest as early as 2 days time or can lay dormant for up to 21 days.
Once the symptoms do begin to appear, they will come in a variety of manifestations. The most common way for the virus to show up is similar to a common flu. One may experience tiredness, fever, muscle pains and joint pains, a headache and/or a sore throat. The next stage consists of more serious symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pains. This may eventually lead to shortness of breath, chest pains and more severe headaches accompanied by mental confusion.
In the worst cases, one will experience rashes as well as internal and external bleeding. The bleeding symptoms will show up in a number of ways, including blood in the stool, blood in vomit and coughing up blood. There can also be signs of internal bleeding on the skin, such as hematomas and other surface marks. The whites of the eyes may also be affected. Most bleeding is, however, very minor and remains almost exclusively within the gastrointestinal tract.
Ebola symptoms are most commonly mistaken for the flu, so it’s very important to get a flu shot so that you have a heads up in self-diagnosing. Then you’ll be more capable of recognizing a potential infection and knowing whether or not you need to have a doctor check you for something more serious than the flu.
Treating Ebola
If there was a true way to treat the Ebola virus, the world wouldn’t be having the problems that it has been having during the last few months. There is, unfortunately, no vaccine or cure as of yet. This leads to panic in counties that fear Ebola may cross their borders and hundreds or thousands of deaths in countries where the virus is running a strong course. The only real treatment at this time is to keep the patient healthy enough that the virus will run its course while still leaving them alive once it’s done. In Third World countries, however, keeping the patient alive isn’t all that easy.
The most basic way to keep Ebola victims alive is to make sure that they have enough fluids. The main causes of death to the infected are complications due to fluid loss. Providing plenty of fluids as well as ensuring that the body is well-fed and in a healthy enough state to fight the virus are, ultimately, the two best ways to help those suffering from Ebola.
During the treatment process, one thing that is just as important as helping the victim is to ensure that the health workers are protected. Health workers are the most at-risk group for catching Ebola and this risk can be all but eliminated by taking the proper precautions.
The recovery process for Ebola begins, on average, sometime between 7 and 14 days after the first symptoms appear. Even when an infected person has recovered, however, Ebola can leave its mark on them. It’s not uncommon for those who survive Ebola to suffer such long-term complications as joint and muscle pains, hair loss, eye problems, liver inflammation and hearing problems.
Currently, many pharmaceutical companies are working on better treatments for Ebola, including vaccines and drugs to help those that have become infected. It is estimated that by January of next year, millions of these new drugs will be available for distribution. Whether they work or not, however, is a story that only time will tell.
How Bad is the Current Ebola Outbreak?
While many people are afraid of the fact that Ebola has crossed over our borders and infected a dozen people in the United States, the truth of the matter is that we’re relatively unharmed by the virus. This is particularly true when one compares the statistics of other affected countries. The 2014 outbreak is the worst in the history of the disease, though it’s West Africa that feels the brunt of the problem.
As of October 19th, 2014, the vast majority of Ebola cases were in three countries of Africa. Liberia is the hardest hit with 4665 cases, 2705 of which have resulted in the infected dying. The next-worst country is Sierra Leone. They’ve experienced 3706 cases and 1259 deaths. Third on the list is Guinea, the country believed to have been the point of origin for the current outbreak. They have 1540 cases, 904 of which have resulted in deaths.
There are also several other countries, though the statistics for them are almost negligible. Nigeria has had 20 cases and 8 deaths. Senegal and Spain had one case each. And, as of Oct 19th, there were only 3 cases in the United States. That number has, however, increased between the 19th and the time of this writing.
Upon examining the statistics, it’s easy to see that Third World countries are the regions that will see a major impact from Ebola. Just as obvious is that fact that First World countries will see almost no affect from Ebola, as much as the media may wish to preach otherwise. With the quality of medical care in the West, patients have a higher survival rate and the spread of the disease on a mass scale is almost impossible. The world may be experiencing the worst Ebola outbreak in history, but the truth of the matter is that it’s relatively harmless to those of us that live beyond Western Africa.
What the US is Doing to Stem the Tide of Ebola
Though the infection rate of the Ebola virus is very low and it is technically less dangerous than a host of other, much more common illnesses, the current scare has people swarming to take as many precautions as possible. The United States is particularly driven when it comes to this pattern of behavior, sometimes going to extreme lengths to ensure that Ebola will not gain a foothold in the Americas. So far the government has implemented a number of policies, some good and others questionable.
Quarantining people that are showing symptoms that can be related to Ebola is one tactic. Those that are shown to prove positive for Ebola are then kept in quarantine until they finish their treatment. Unfortunately, misunderstanding of the way the virus works has led to people being quarantined for up to 3 weeks in order to verify whether or not they have been infected. Not only is this unnecessary, it interferes in the lives of the people that are suspected of infection.
In addition to keeping potential Ebola victims quarantined, health care workers in the US are given the utmost protection while they treat patients. There have already been a few cases of nurses catching the virus, so these precautions have been ramped up to ensure that this does not happen again.
Due to the fast that it’s easy to misinterpret Ebola as the flu (and vice versa), the government is urging everyone to get their flu shots as soon as possible. By eliminating the possibility of flu, those who become ill can more easily access their condition and determine whether or not they should be tested for Ebola
The key to any movement to stop the spread of Ebola is education. The public must be made aware of the facts and myths about Ebola so that there aren’t unnecessary scares regarding its presence in the US. Hypochondriacal claims of Ebola infection do nothing but clog emergency rooms and prevent actual sick people from receiving the treatment they need. All-in-all, fighting Ebola is much simpler than controlling other types of outbreaks and, with the effort the government is putting into it, we’re not likely to see Ebola become a serious threat anytime soon.
The Most Troubling Myths about the Ebola Virus
One of the biggest problems when a disease crisis strikes is that the general public has no real knowledge of the way most diseases work. Thus, myths and misinformation spring up, clouding the real picture of what’s going on and often promoting a false sense of danger. This can even lead to prominent voices (those who should know better) speaking up about the problems and further spreading false facts. Worse still, a lack of knowledge can end up helping the spread of the disease by not providing people with the information they need to protect themselves.
Here are a few things that everyone should know about Ebola so that they don’t buy into the myths:
1 - Ebola is not highly contagious. In fact, compared to other diseases, Ebola is really hard to catch. You must have direct contact with bodily fluids from someone both infected and showing symptoms. If an infected person is showing no symptoms, then it’s almost impossible to catch Ebola from them.
2 - Despite what complaints people have, we in the US are perfectly capable of controlling the spread of Ebola within our borders. We are a very rich country with a solid heath care system and all the money we need to make preparations against the spread of infection. It’s easy for us to track cases of Ebola and quarantine potentially infected people.
3 - Ebola is not a plaque of Biblical proportions. Previous outbreaks of the virus have shown that, while death tolls are high (and are only so in Third World countries), the virus eventually burns itself out. And the better the health precautions, the quicker the virus goes away.
By understanding the biggest myths, we can help to lessen the fear that comes from the mass media coverage of Ebola. All it takes is a little bit of research and the facts of this latest outbreak can be learned and understood by anyone with Internet access.
Ebola Scare Producing Questionable Government Reactions
The threat of an Ebola outbreak has a great many people frightened. This fear is further heightened by constant media coverage that blows the extent of the problem out of proportion. People demand solutions to problems that sometimes don’t even exist. This in turn leads the government to occasionally overreact with the measures they take to protect people. Many of these measures are token in nature, put in place only to appease the fearful masses. The latest Ebola threat has been no exception in this regard.
Although the federal government works closely with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), - one of the foremost experts on viral outbreaks - state governments have been going beyond the recommended precautions to implement some over-the-top and questionable policies. One in New York requires that all health care workers coming back from Ebola-infected zones remain in quarantine for 21 days. A similar policy has been enacted in the state of Illinois.
The virus can be detected much earlier than this, so there’s no reason to keep people confined for so long. Ebola also takes time to manifest, so it’s easier to simply monitor those who may be infected while they go about their normal business and then bring them to the hospital if they begin to show symptoms.
Another problem with the unreasonable 21-day quarantine policy is that it strongly discourages the people skilled enough to help with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from taking part in the relief effort. With less people to fight the virus at its source, there is a much greater chance that it will spread further and last longer.
Airport screening procedures have also been talked about, though experts have insisted that this tactic would be useless. There are also people calling for a travel ban from West African countries. And while that may look good on paper, the CDC states that this would actually hinder attempts to track and control the disease. People leaving West Africa would merely take alternative forms of transportation, meaning that they could potentially enter the country and we would have no knowledge that they were coming from Ebola-infected regions. It would also slow the movement of much-needed medical supplies to the West African region and could cause the outbreaks in that region to last longer.
In the end, the government, with the help of the CDC, has already implemented enough policies that Ebola is not a serious threat to the US. The next step is the much more important problems of making sure that it no longer threatens the people in West Africa.
Some Strange Conspiracy Theories about the Ebola Outbreak
Whenever there’s a crisis in the world, people’s fear often leads them to believe some pretty strange things. Other times, political figures try to exploit the situation in order to further their agendas. In the process, some pretty strange conspiracy theories pop up. Here are a couple of the most bizarre and ridiculous conspiracy theories going around due to the current Ebola outbreak.
1 - Ebola was engineered by the government.
Some think that the government is behind the birth of Ebola and that their intention was to use the virus as a form of chemical warfare. Of course, if this were the case we have some pretty short-sighted people running the show. There are plenty of incompetent politicians, but the idea of using a virus that has a low rate of contagion as a weapon is the very definition of inefficiency.
2 - Ebola was engineered to create a public scare.
This theory postulates that the government created Ebola, but their intent was not to use it as a weapon. Instead, the very threat of an Ebola outbreak in the US was the goal. In this way, they could impose quarantines, travel bans and other restrictive laws, with the endgame being complete and total martial law. Those who buy into this ludicrous theory believe that Obama’s reluctance to shut down flights from West Africa is proof that he secretly wants the virus to go out of control in our country.
3 - Ebola was created as a form of population control.
Again, Ebola spreads slowly and only becomes a real problem in areas with poor medical care. Thus, any real population control via the virus is unrealistic.
4 - Health officials created Ebola to make money.
This theory states that pharmaceutical companies colluded with other organizations and created Ebola to make money. If the disease goes out of control, they can sell vaccines and get rich. Once again, Ebola does not spread that easily, so those creating the cure wouldn’t have too many customers to sell to.
Diseases to Fear More Than Ebola
The current outbreak of Ebola may seem like it affects a great number of people, but the reality of the situation is that this virus is minor compared to several other, much more common diseases. When you feel the urge to be afraid, just remember these five diseases that are a lot more likely to kill you that Ebola is.
1 - The Flu
This disease is so prevalent and unavoidable that people don’t even worry about it anymore. But the fact remains that the flu kills more than 35,000 people each year in the United States alone. In Third World countries, this number is much higher. Thus, one year of flu deaths in the US kills more people than all the Ebola outbreaks to-date combined.
2 - Tuberculosis
More than a million people die each year from this illness. It’s the second worst infection in the entire world and a far better killer than Ebola will ever be. Approximately 10,000 cases of TB show up in the US each year. Luckily, this one is controllable and treatable, so it’s not something that we need to worry too much about.
3 - HIV
HIV is a secretive killer that claims nearly 2 million lives each year, thousands of which are within US borders. Tens of millions of people are infected right now with HIV and the chances of catching it are much higher than those of Ebola. But due to Ebola having a much messier effect on its victims, people don’t fear HIV like they do Ebola. At least not in recent weeks.
4 - Malaria
This is another disease that doesn’t affect many people in the US, but it is still responsible for more than 600,000 deaths each year among the 200 million cases reported.
5 - Measles
While most measles outbreaks in the US occur because of people refusing to be vaccinated, when there is an outbreak it often claims dozens and sometimes hundreds of lives. This year we’ve seen about 600 cases, most of which came to the US from overseas. Still, you don’t hear people screaming about a measles outbreak the same way they are about Ebola.