Ebola Epidemic

There are many questions and concerns surrounding the current Ebola epidemic overseas and how this will affect the U.S., if even at all. In the next paragraphs, I will answer a few questions I have been asked about the subject and hopefully help you better understand a little more of the problem going on in West Africa.

Should the U.S. have stepped in sooner?

Before I answer this question, I want to tell you a little about Ebola. Ebola is a deadly disease known for its symptoms of intense fever and in some cases internal bleeding. It can be contracted from contact with infected bodily fluid and contaminated surfaces and materials (theguardian.com). So far, there have been 6,574 cases of Ebola and 3,091 casualties, according to cnn.com.

Now to the question. I believe the answer is yes, we should have stepped in sooner. I’m not saying that if we had started helping sooner, the problem would be resolved, I just think it would have been wiser for us to jump in sooner. The first announcement of the Ebola outbreak was in March and it took until August for the U.S. to do something. Another thing was that this first act of compassion was to save two of our own American doctors who were infected in July (cnn.com). Honestly, I think this makes us seem like a selfish nation. I am glad that we were able to heal our doctors, but that’s also part of the problem that raises more questions. Is the U.S. hogging an Ebola cure? If so, why? And if we had the ability to save two of our people, how many others infections and deaths could have been prevented if we had saved two or more other lives of the infected natives back in March?

How does cultural belief affect prevention?

This problem really hits home with natives and puts them in a tricky situation. Due to their strongly rooted traditions, natives become infected with the disease in two main ways frequently from their folk remedies and burial processes (who.int). Many of their folk remedies, or “homemade vaccines”, involve physical contact. If this involves bodily fluids or even infected clothes, others can easily become infected. Another problem arises with traditional burials. This usually involves a cleansing of the body which can also easily infect others. You might think, why don’t they just stop doing these two things? One reason is that some villages are so isolated that these treatments are the only things they can do to treat their sick. Another reason is that they feel so strongly in carrying out these practices if they did not do them, the natives would feel they were in a way insulting their ancestors (who.int).

After reading this passage, I hope that you have a better understanding of the problem that not only West Africa, but also the world is facing. You should also know about some of the things the U.S. has done involving the Ebola epidemic and also other cultural factors that are making the situation more difficult.

Want more info on this topic? See http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/.

Gambino, L. (2014, October 3). Ebola: Answering the 10 basic questions you were afraid to ask. Retrieved October 5, 2014.

Ebola Fast Facts. (1970, January 1). Retrieved October 5, 2014.

Time to put Ebola in context. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2014.