The Ending of Ebola: What Will Happen to the World?

An Ebola virus. Photo courtesy of www.cdc.gov.

An Ebola virus. Photo courtesy of www.cdc.gov.

Charlotte Muth '16, Staff Writer

If you are anything like me, you have likely thought about Ebola lately.  What is it?  How come I hadn’t heard about it a year ago?  Should I be worried?  Upon beginning this article, I realized that the task of writing about Ebola was truly daunting since I knew nothing about it.  After doing extensive research, I hope to extend my understanding of the disease to the school to create a greater awareness of the virus.

First off, the Ebola Virus Disease (often referred to as just “Ebola”) is highly dangerous and is passed through the exchange of bodily fluids (i.e. blood, saliva, et cetera).  Initial symptoms include fever, sore throat, headaches, and other general pains, which can transform into harsher symptoms such as diarrhea, rash, and vomiting. If harsher symptoms do occur, the body will externally and internally bleed due to failed kidneys and liver.  The disease has resulted in a death rate of roughly 50 percent of those infected.

Now that I have thoroughly frightened you, let’s get some things straight.  As I said earlier, the only way to get Ebola is through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.  This is unlikely, unless of course you are helping people with Ebola, or have visited West Africa without taking precautions; therefore, you will not “catch” Ebola through particles in the air, or by having wet hair in the cold.  It is a rare disease, which has transformed into an epidemic in several countries in West Africa.  Some American health care workers have travelled to West Africa to assist the cause, resulting in the first confirmed Ebola infections among Americans.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been four cases in America, one of which resulted in the death of the person diagnosed: a man died of Ebola after travelling from Liberia to Dallas, Texas where he passed away this year on October 8th.

The Ebola epidemic of 2014 has taken a total death toll of 5,177 – the largest outbreak to date.  Sadly, there is little the average person can do to stop its severe effects, as no approved vaccine exists at this point; however we can spread knowledge about the proper management of this sickness.  Health care workers can take prevention measures when handling Ebola patients to lessen the spread of this disease. I have confidence that it will not become a worldwide epidemic, as long as people are extremely cautious.  It is difficult to say how many more lives Ebola will take, but with precaution among healthcare workers and travellers, as well as the ingenuity of doctors and scientists, I hope that Ebola will soon become a history instead of a current reality.