An oft-misconceived virus with deadly conceptions
What is Ebola?
Whenever a particular disease gets enormous media attention, like Ebola has received in the past few months, false information is often spread around. People worry about their risk of infection, individuals inaccurately self-diagnose, and most importantly, a lot of people get worried about something that will ultimately have no little-to-no effect on their lives.
The recent Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa has not been without its notoriety. News-media perpetuating the types of falsities that are associated with little research has led to a lot people getting very worried about their lives when they have very little reason to worry at all. The Ontarion already published an article on Ebola a few weeks ago, and the coverage was both an accurate representation of the current geopolitical situation, as well as an accurate representation of Ebola itself.
To clarify, the term Ebola refers to the genus Ebolavirus, Ebola Virus Disease, Zaire ebolavirus, or one of five strains of ebolavirus. When individuals speak about an “Ebola outbreak,” they refer to the unmitigated spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Additionally, Zaire ebolavirus is the most deadly of all five known strains, is the strain with the highest fatalities, and is currently responsible for the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
How does Ebola Work?
EVD is a disease of humans and other primates. Though one acquires the virus through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected organism, Ebola has not been documented to spread through the air. This is incredibly important to recognize – unless an individual has come into direct contact with an infected organism, there is very little risk. Infected organisms can only infect healthy organisms after the onset of first symptoms.
The first symptoms of Ebola resemble the typical flu – fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. Sometimes, individuals report feeling chest pain, hiccups, and shortness of breath.
However, vomiting, diarrhea, and rash soon follow, continuing with decreased liver and kidney functions. Eventually, internal and external bleeding sets in, concluding with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (multiple organ failure).
Typically, Ebola’s incubation period (the time between infection and first symptom manifestation) is eight to 10 days, but it can also vary between two and 21 days. If individuals do not recover from the first symptoms, death occurs between seven to 16 days after first symptoms.
Why is Ebola Important?
Medicine is the practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. It might seem unnecessary to define medicine, but I feel it’s important to make the point that medicine has become a wildly political tool. There are obvious economic benefits to figuring out how to cure and prevent EVD, but the purely scientific study of Ebola exists simply to catalogue the information in the encyclopaedia of collected human knowledge.
However, Ebola, much like all diseases that seem to exist solely outside the borders of the first world, is important because it highlights the very political and economic differences between members of this planet. There is a simple truth that third-world nations are not equipped to deal with a pandemic of any kind. There’s either not enough money, or not enough interest, or not enough attention being paid, and pandemics only really seem to become a widespread concern once there is risk of the first world becoming infected.
In fact, the current spread of Ebola has largely been attributed to the reuse of needles and the absolute lack of universal precautions in West African hospitals and care facilities. This is not a result of clinical negligence or even misinformation – it’s the result of a dire lack of resources.
What is the Future of Ebola?
In the past few months, first-world leaders have begun to pledge amounts of money to help the citizens of West Africa fight back against the spread of Ebola. Great concern has also been expressed at the possibility of volunteers and foreign-aid workers from the first world returning with Ebola to their home countries. What happens if an unknowing infected individual returns to Australia, or England, or Canada, or America?
There is currently a man in Dallas, Texas who is fighting for his life because he has Ebola. As I mentioned earlier, unless his physicians are purposely or criminally negligent, there is very little risk of the virus spreading in America.
The future of Ebola, then, is the future of medical care in the third world. We will eventually find a way to counteract the effects of Ebola – a vaccine will be developed. On our route to medical perfection, however, we must not forget those who needlessly sacrificed their lives.