Ebola Outbreak By And A Mask On The Face Of Death By Seltzer

“Since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, 1.7 million Americans have been infected with HIV and more than six hundred and fifty thousand have died of AIDS.” (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). AIDS is a serious disease that needs to be treated from an early stage so that it helps long-term health from deteriorating. There are many scientists that have tried to form a vaccine for AIDS to help people around the world that suffer with it. Helen Epstein worked as a scientist in Africa in search of an AIDS vaccine. “AIDS INC” is a chapter from her book The Invisible Cure where Epstein observes different prevention programs in Africa. Its hard for the individuals in Africa to trust scientists coming from other countries and talk openly with them and that contributes toward social cohesion. Despite the fact that social cohesion has many different definitions Epstein focuses on talking openly with

In The Invisible Cure, Helen Epstein talks about why HIV/AIDS rate is so high in Africa compared to the rest of the world. Through the book, she gives us an account of the disease and the struggles that many health experts and ordinary Africans went through to understand this disease, and how different African countries approached the same problem differently. Through this paper, I will first address the different ways Uganda and Southern African countries, South Africa and Botswana in particular, dealt with this epidemic, and then explain how we can use what we have learned from these African countries to control outbreaks of communicable disease elsewhere around the world.

Unlike HIV or other global viruses, Ebola is until this day geographically restrained, facilitating the deduction that the responsible originated from West Africa or returned from areas confirmed as danger zones. The list of suspects is indeed rather short: it amounts to Western Africans travelling to America and U.S. citizen contaminated in the same region. The latter category is, as cases in the western world indicate, consisted virtually exclusively of humanitarian helpers and health personal having been in contact with Ebola patients. Albeit these categories are subject to broad generalizations, they are the fruit of the apparent human condition to investigate, regardless of the rationality behind the reasoning. Seale baptised these generalisations “health imagined communities” (Seale, 2007, p. 92). Lupton emphasized on the experience that constructed risk communities don’t differ from real risk communities as much in their consequences as they do in their

During the burial process, mourning relatives embraced and kissed the dead body. In particular, secret societies ran burial sites which adhered to the practice of sleeping next to corpses while other traditions involves the act of bathing and anointing others in the water rinsed off from the deceased. As a result, the virus particles are transmitted through percolated bodily fluids and uncoagulated blood. In fact, according to WHO(World Health Organization), reports demonstrated that from sixty up to eighty percent of Ebola cases in the 2014 outbreak in West Africa are associated with burial traditions. Likewise, during the emergence Ebola Sudan, the virus was further spread through the intimate relationships between P.G.and his mistresses as said in The Hot Zone, “The agent jumped easily from person to person, apparently through touching and sexual contact.” (Preston

This Ebola outbreak taught us many factors of public health that we simply ignore daily, like washing hands. These viruses are easily transmitted from person to person, through their blood or body-fluids. Therefore it is very important to research about our public health around us, for everyone’s health and future. The Ebola outbreak showed how the world is very ignorant of their public health. It is better for them to know all of these tragedies and educate themselve to prevent from any other outbreaks that will take place in the future. The plan to release more information and persuade to adjust West African culture will definitely make public healthier, view the world differently, and our future generations will learn the importance of learning

I believe that there are similarities to the way the media is covering Ebola now and how the media covered the illnesses discussed in Susan Sontag’s book “AIDS and ITS Metaphors”. The way Ebola is portrayed in the media can be very frightening. Since the beginning of the Ebola outbreak there has been a lot coverage of the illness, but I do believe that when someone in the United States contracted the virus it became a much more massively discussed topic. For example, an article by BBC News states “… the US military said that it expected to send a total of 3,000 troops to Liberia to combat the Ebola outbreak. The US had initially authorized up to 4,000 troops for the mission in

In Africa ,“Society's fittest, not its frailest, are the ones who die—adults spirited away, leaving the old and the children behind. You cannot define risk groups: everyone who is sexually active is at risk. Babies too, [are] unwittingly infected by mothers. Barely a single family remains untouched. Most do not know how or when they caught the virus, many never know they have it, many who do know don't tell anyone as they lie dying.” The death of Nelson Mandela’s son is a strong reminder that no one in Africa can consider themselves safe from HIV. Yet as Africans gather around the coffin of there friends and colleagues, HIV is only whispered when it’s time to speculate on there death. Tuberculosis is put down for cause of death because it is more comforting then knowing they had AIDS. HIV/AIDS is sexually

The airline restrictions harmed West Africa’s already fragile government by hampering the flow of aid and trade. The “Analysis of the West African Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic” shines a light on the need for reform in the Global Health System by emphasizing the failures of the government officials and organizations.

When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types

Because Ebola was unknown and never seen before, doctors and citizens in Ebola-infected cities did not know what kind of precautions to take when handling an Ebola-exposed person. As a direct effect to this, the virus spread tremendously fast through the city of Zaire, and eventually spread to many other countries due to the lack of knowledge of the infectious disease. Hospital workers dealing with Ebola-exposed patients took few precautions when handling blood and test tubes. Family members held funerals to those who died from the virus, which spread the disease among the family members. In fact, an article was published in the Houston Chronicle on October 19, 2000, stating that the 9 month child of Esther Awete, who died from infection of the Ebola virus, came down with the infection himself, just days after attending her funeral. Her other son, however, did not attend her funeral and ironically did not come down with Ebola. It is believed that if the virus can find a host quickly, then it can still survive after it's previous host dies.

The Ebola epidemic has economically affected both countries where its cases have been reported and countries that have not reported cases of Ebola. The most affected economies are that of the US and other African countries (World Bank, 2015). In Africa, especially West African States where the disease has spread rapidly, Ebola has slowed down economic growth. It is very unfortunate that the epidemic has destroyed the economies of poor

People that catch disease are those who come in direct contact with blood, bodily fluid, or semen that is infected with the Ebola virus. Some scientists have theorized that the virus begins with a human that comes in contact with an animal that is infected. The most common form of spreading is with person-to-person contact with and individual who has the disease. Hospital workers and family members who take care of individuals who have contracted the disease are the ones that are most often at risk of spreading the Ebola virus. In countries

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa first broke the news in March 2014. Considered an epidemic, this outbreak killed five times more than any other Ebola outbreak combined. The virus is traced back to a two year old toddler who died in a south-eastern Guinea small village in December 2013. It took nearly three months for the health officials to identify the cause of people’s illness was Ebola. At that point, the virus had already spread and was set to explode around the world. West Africa was not prepared for this type of epidemic, the clinics had never managed this type of case, there was no laboratory to diagnose the patients, and the government had never witnessed that type of upheaval. The people initially denied the crisis because they didn’t understand why, how, or what had hit them.

Over the years, there has been a deeper understanding of the scope of AIDS and who the people are who struggle with this life ending disease. In this paper, I will attempt to shed some light on the truth concerning the epidemic and dispel some of the myths associated with the disease. I hope to also look at the psychological and social processes that those with the deadly disease encounter and what society has done to educate people about the disease.

HIV is a virus that affects all parts of the globe. However, there are two major global epidemics. The first being in the west and developing countries. In these areas the pattern of infection is found in certain groups. These groups being “drug injectors, gay men and prostitutes” (Pisani p. ) This epidemic is known as the “concentrated epidemic”. This particular pattern HIV spreads rapidly in a concentrated groups. This is because you are most likely to pass on the virus when you are in the first stage of HIV. In a concentrated tight knit group of people who are having several sex partners and sharing needles with others it is easy for the virus to be transmitted. The other epidemic pattern is seen in east and southern Africa as well as some parts of east Africa and the Caribbean. This pattern is also known as “generalised epidemic”. This pattern is different because HIV is in the general population appose to a concentrated population.