Friday, March 28, 2014

Blog 7: Health in West Africa


The article, Ebola Breaks Out in West Africa for the First Time, is about how the deadly Ebola virus is spreading around West Africa, and in particular a small country called Guinea. Since Guinea is a small country there is very small and limited medical infrastructure, so a virus such as Ebola can cause a lot of problems and deaths. The article states that it has already sickened 86 people and killed 59 of them. It also states that this is the largest Ebola outbreak since 2007 and it is the first one to be discovered in West Africa. Ebola is a virus that can be spread through blood and other various body fluids. The symptoms are similar to dysentery such as diarrhea, vomiting, and severe stomach pain. In attempt to control this virus, health officials are trying to control how often people are in contact with those infected so that they can prevent how rapid this outbreak is becoming.

It is very important to understand and be aware of this large and major outbreak in West Africa because it could potentially travel to the United States if the right precautions are not taken. Like the article states, we need to have health officials control and isolate those that are infected with this virus, so that other people and regions of the world do not get it. It is also important to note that this is the largest Ebola outbreak since 2007 which states that this is very large and serious and not something that we should take lightly. I was encouraged to read that even though there is no vaccine or treatment for it yet, there should be no concern outside of Guinea. I think another way that we can indirectly help Guinea is to provide medical equipment and supplies to them so that they can treat this virus because Guinea has no medical infrastructure, so it is going to be hard for them to control it all on their own.

 

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