Summary:
The Ugandan health officials have
stated that the outbreak of Ebola is now over. Ebola is a type of virus which
is the direct cause of viral haemorrhagic fever. VHF has symptoms of a sudden
fever, intense weakness, muscle soreness, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea,
rash, impaired kidney and liver function, internal and external bleeding, low
counts of white blood cells, elevated liver enzymes, and most often death.
Uganda has had an outbreak since late July of this year which has killed 17
people. There were 24 probable and confirmed cases with only one third of them
surviving according to the WHO. Ebola is a highly contagious and infectious
virus that is spread through direct contact with body fluids from and infected
person. “Initial symptoms of Ebola can be mistaken for other illnesses such as
the flu. Ebola spreads mostly through “remote villages in Central and West
Africa, near tropical rainforests.” The World Health Organization (WHO) stated
that there is no reason to change travel or trade because of this out break and
health officials have “declared the country free of Ebola.”
Analysis:
I want to know where Ebola grows
at. What kind of climate does it like? I know it said in the article that it
spreads through remote villages in Central and West African rainforests, but as
a medical major, my curiosity lies with weather or not it likes dark damp places
or if it likes sunlight to multiply. Also I wonder how it only killed 17
people. If it is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids and family
members care for the individual as if it’s the flu then how it that more people
weren’t infected? It just seems to me that more people would have been exposed
to contracting the disease, but thank goodness they weren’t because it could’ve
been an epidemic. It’s crazy to me to think of how easily a person’s life can
be changed just by contracting a virus that one can’t even say can cause death.
Amanda Micaela Cook
10-11-12
11:14pm
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/health/uganda-ebola-free/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
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