The Ebola menace.Are we in danger?

Disease may be as close as Conrad HS

 

 

              By AARON SOLOMAN, 12

 

 

The latest (10.09.14)

 

On the first day of October, 2014, every student and teacher at BA experienced waves of shock, horror and fear.  News broke that a Liberian National who had been diagnosed with the Ebola virus had arrived in Dallas. The victim, Thomas Eric Duncan, who has since died, was the first person to be diagnosed with the virus while in the US.

 

Mr. Duncan was receiving experimental drugs at Dallas’ Presbyterian Hospital until his death on October 8. Duncan came to the U.S to visit family and friends, flying from Liberia to Belgium, from there to Washington DC and finally to Dallas. 

 

Duncan was staying in the Ivy Apartments, near Conrad High School, with a woman named Jallah. He began showing minor symptoms on the 28th of September, but on the 29th, he was stricken with sever fever, reduced urination and diarrhea. Jallah decided to call for paramedics. When they arrived she warned them to wear protective body wear. Duncan was in isolation, or quarantine on the first floor of Dallas Presbyterian Hospital. Many people who may have come into contact with Duncan, including some attending four DISD schools,  have been placed in quarantine or are being closely monitored for symptoms. Even the ambulance that he was transported in was quarantined.

 

Ebola – What is it?                     

 

The Ebola virus disease (EVD), Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), or simply Ebola, is a disease that affects humans and other primates. Symptoms start two to three weeks after contracting the virus. Symptoms include fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. Usually vomiting, diarrhea and rash, decreased liver and kidney function.

 

The current outbreak of Ebola is by far the largest seen since 2007, with the number of affected people currently standing just over 5,000 and the death toll closely approaching 3,000. More and more victims have overwhelmed clinics in Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leon and Guinea. The Virus is able to spread through physical contact of bodily fluids, such as sweet and blood. Some health experts have even added that the disease may be capable of becoming airborne. Those who have been infected suffer from blood being excreted from the pores on the victim’s skin. The disease has a high risk of death, killing between 50% and 90% of those infected with the virus. No specific treatment for the disease is yet available.

 

 

Should we worry?

 

According to BA Anatomy and Physiology teacher Mr. Hogan Campbell, because Ebola must be spread by contact with bodily fluids, the virus is not extremely contagious.

 

“Ebola is a relatively new virus, it is very rare for a such a virus to mutate to become airborne. Even in it’s current form the virus cannot easily spread to other hosts," he said. “It can only spread if a person were to come into contact with infected feces(poop), blood or other bodily fluids.”

 

 

Whether or not we should worry about Ebola now in our city and possibly in our own community, is still an open question. For the most part the public has been told that everything is under control and there is no reason to panic thus far. Some questions, however, are still unanswered. Why was Mr. Duncan released from Presby the first time? Why are people still allowed to travel from West Africa to the US?

 

 

Mr. Campbell sees as the main safegaurd the healthcare response in the US.

 

"Its the best in the world and more than adequate to quell the disease and fears of its spreading," he said.