Why You Should Care About the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa- in 5 Paragraphs

by Fox Meyer

If by some rare chance the news hasn’t reached you, West Africa is experiencing the largest recorded outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) ever. Many people are not sure what this means or why it matters because there seems to always be a disease spreading, but EVD is a particularly interesting case due to its rather interesting characteristics. If that wasn’t enough, it also has a 55% mortality rate. That’s just in this instance - in previous outbreaks of this strain 90% of cases have been fatal!

Map of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa

First of all, the actual symptoms of EVD aren’t all too wild in the realm of diseases: infected people usually experience vomiting, diarrhea, aches and fever. Not so bad, right? On the surface, maybe not. The symptoms themselves are survivable, but they lead to more extreme symptoms, including dehydration and failure of the liver and kidneys. It is from these effects that the deadliness of Ebola emerges.

One aspect of the uncertainty surrounding EVD’s rise is where it actually comes from. While it is agreed that the virus likely makes the jump to mammals, including humans, through ingestion, the disease's origin is unknown. It has been observed, however, that bats harbor it in their digestive tracts. Once in a human host, the virus spreads through most bodily fluids. This fact is especially dangerous for the people taking care of the sick due to the sheer amount of bodily fluids released by the infected. Two American health workers have so far been infected, and have been flown to the U.S. to undergo tests and treatment at an Atlanta, Georgia hospital.

Doctors treating Ebola patients in the capital of Guinea

In addition to spreading to doctors, the virus actually has the ability to keep a host infective after death, creating the risk of infection for those who attend or officiate burial ceremonies and those who handle the bodies.

Although the Ebola outbreak has reached a record level of over 1,300 reported cases, there is little need to worry for your own health. The success of this outbreak can be attributed to the poor living conditions in the countries it has spread to, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, and the nation where it began, Guinea. The developed world has little to fear from Ebola, but still ought to focus on developing a cure for this dangerous and deadly disease.