Ebola is a viral disease that kills half of the people it infects. Five thousand West Africans have died from this outbreak. The disease frightens people and they believe rumors instead of scientific evidence. This leads to denial and avoiding necessary quarantine or politicians trying to quarantine healthy people. Solving the problems caused by fear is critical to fighting ebola.
The ebola virus spreads through body fluids: blood, vomit and diarrhea- not through the air or by mosquitos. The virus starts by disabling the primary immune system component, interferon. It has a huge viral load.This means there are millions of viruses in each milliliter of blood waiting to infect others. Ebola prevents blood from clotting, making the person release the virus. Until the person shows symptoms, they are not contagious. This fact should prevent concern, but there are malicious people who deny facts and prefer to quarantine healthy people. There are people who ban children from school even though they did not encounter anyone with ebola. This moves our focus from finding a cure to fighting a campaign of fear.
Ebola is mostly found in three countries in West Africa: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. It is also found in places where travelers have come from these countries. In the United States, four people have been diagnosed with ebola. The three who were diagnosed early got better and did not infect anyone else. The fourth person was not treated for ebola the first time he arrived at the hospital. The second time he arrived, he was admitted, infected two of his nurses and died.To reduce the risk of infection health care workers must wear protective gear covering every bit of skin and use safety removal procedures. In Africa, many hospitals do not have air conditioning, so the protective gear causes overheating. Doctors and nurses need more breaks; more breaks means more chances for infection to spread.
In cases where the ebola virus is identified early, people are more likely to survive and less likely to spread the disease. In Africa, many people are afraid to admit they have ebola. Some people do not believe it is real. Test results can take days. These issues congregate infected people who keep providing a source of infection for others. Staying home, in an effort to deny having ebola, reduces the chance of survival spreads the disease.
Tracing the path of people who interacted with a person with ebola is the key to stopping the disease before it becomes an epidemic. Mali and Nigeria both attacked ebola with detective work and won. The process is simple but it requires many people, access to remote areas, thermometers, taking blood tests and getting results in hours, not days. When a person has been exposed to ebola they should take their temperature twice a day for 21 days. If they run a fever, they should be tested for ebola. If they test positive, they should quarantined. This process requires persistance.
A vaccine for ebola has not been developed yet. Countries that need the vaccine, do not have the money for it. Countries with labs and scientists, have other diseases that are more common; flu and cancer are higher research priorities in the United States.While fear and ignorance have aided the spread of ebola, only a commitment from wealthy nations to fund research will stop it. Ebola will wait.
