Government Confirms First Case of Ebola in US
Summary- My current event this week discusses the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States where the patient showed initial symptoms in the United States. The case is located in Dallas, Texas as a man who had recently traveled to Liberia on the West African Coast. This whole region is experiencing the worst Ebola outbreak in almost half a century. The man being discussed has been put in isolation at a local hospital. Officials believe that the infection has not spread beyond this man.
Analysis and Opinion- Ebola has been in the news a lot recently and rightfully so. The outbreak in West Africa has killed thousands of people and has spread unconstrained across three countries. However, people in the United States should not fear a global pandemic just yet. This particular strain only spreads while patients are exhibiting symptoms (such as vomiting, fever, and failure of blood cells) through close fluid contact. This disease is not airborne and thrives in countries with poor public water works and hygiene systems such as Africa. Many are scared of this disease and we all should be. It is the world's second deadliest disease according to case fatality rate which is the percentage of people who are diagnosed with disease that die. In the case of Ebola, the case fatality rate is 83 percent, a shockingly high number. However, the slow spreading ability of the disease has allowed scientists and health workers to contain it in the past and will do so again.
I believe that we will contain it again, but we may only do that after millions of lives have been claimed by the disease, as Africa isn't the best place to contain a disease. AIDS for example, is only transmitted through body fluids yet it has spread throughout a lot of the world, killing millions. Hopefully the man didn't spread ebola to anyone after the hospital accidentally let him out.
ReplyDeleteIt is important for most Americans to know the points that Andrew made in this article. We take for granted how clean our water and food is that prevents the sprread of diseases of this type. However, the fact that there has been a diagnosed case in the US will hopefully help spread awareness of the disease and help find a cure or better methods of prevention.
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