A seemingly unstoppable disease is raging through Africa and destroying cities and villages. The Ebola virus first made headlines in 1976, when almost simultaneous outbreaks occurred in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. Since then, it has appeared occasionally throughout Africa. It has infected over twenty-eight thousand, and killed over eleven thousand, with the most recent outbreak happening in October of 2022 in Uganda. It spreads quickly, and most medical facilities in Africa are not equipped to stop it. However, there is a way to stop the ebola virus epidemic that is still ongoing.
The first solution is a complete quarantine. According to Debra MacKenzie, a scientific journalist who has been covering emerging diseases for over thirty years, “Quarantine has worked in the past, ''(Mackenzie, 1). Quarantines are not just about keeping the sick separate from everyone else, but also keeping track of people that might have come into contact with infected people. By limiting who interacts with the infected, it becomes easier to keep track of them, and watch them for symptoms of the disease. Aliou Bouba -–an accredited scientist that studied at prestigious universities in Germany and Cameroon–- by using simulations and past statistics, found that “Contact tracing and quarantine strategies are the most important pillars of managing EVD outbreaks'' (Bouba, 3). Contact tracing includes back tracking, and keeping people who have been in contact with infected under watch. Bouba’s team found that combining these strategies decreased the number of infected in a given outbreak dramatically. The Ebola virus has wiped out communities across Africa, and it can be stopped by investing into better quarantine measures.
The second solution is vaccines. In his 2018 article, J. Daniel Kelly, a medical professor at University of California San Francisco, held a study where he found that “In the absence of any vaccination program, the projected median outbreak size was 213.0 cases… Using a higher estimate of 62% vaccination coverage, the median size was 82.0 EVD cases'' (Kelly, 6). This study shows that there is a sizable difference between the number of people that become infected when a vaccine is introduced and not introduced. Due to herd immunity, not everyone in the population needs to be vaccinated for it to have a big effect. Mackenzie also stated in her article that, “The other angle of attack is a vaccine. UK-based GlaxoSmithKline has said it will start making 10,000 doses of an experimental vaccine” (Mackenzie, 2). Her article was written in 2014, and since then, the Ebola vaccine has been approved. It has seen success in the field, and is now part of the standard response to outbreaks. This all proves that vaccines area viable option to stop Ebola
The third solution is education. In Benjamin Levy’s 2017 article, he states that based off a graph, it “Clearly Shows that the timing of public health education is important in reducing the number of cases of EVD. Specifically, the earlier an educational campaign is implemented the fewer cases that result” (Levy, 5). This shows that to prevent an outbreak, you need to educate people about how it is spread, and how dangerous the virus is. To do this, we need schools and universities to take an active role in educating children how to stay safe from the virus. Once the children are educated, they can then teach it to their parents and their family members. The biggest hurdle will be convincing people to stop using conventional methods “Cultural practices lay a large role in the transmission of Ebola. When a family member becomes ill, it is common practice to forgo seeking medical treatment and instead see a traditional herbalist or be cared for at home” (Levy). Once the population is educated they will have the tools they need to slow the outbreak down themselves, to give more time for outside help.
There are some problems with both the quarantines and the vaccines. The problem that most often comes up when talking about quarantine is how cost and labor intensive it can be, especially for the underdeveloped medical system in these African countries. On smaller scales, it can be pretty easy but, as Mackenzie said in her article, “It is proving difficult to scale up such labor-intensive methods” (Mackenzie, 1). It will cost a large amount of money and manpower, but it is the responsibility of rich and developed nations to help the people that are struggling with this virus. It is a devastating virus, and it is inhumane to leave some of the poorest communities alone to deal with a problem that could eventually affect the entire world; “Sept. 30, was when news broke that the first Ebola case had been diagnosed in the U.S.” (Kluger, 3). The problem most associated with the vaccine is the distribution. It is difficult to distribute the vaccine to everyone. There are over a billion people in Africa, and many of them do not have good infrastructure. This makes it difficult for medical teams to get the vaccine to everyone, especially those that live in more isolated villages. Once again it is a money problem. With enough funding, it could be possible to vaccinate almost everyone, which would eradicate the virus, similar to smallpox. The easiest solution to implement is education, but it does not come without its struggles. It costs a lot to implement a new educational course, especially for areas that already struggle with basic education. However, by investing into better education in poorer areas we can stop both the Ebola virus, and create a better educated population. Quarantining, vaccinating, and educating is difficult, but it needs to be done, so that we can end the Ebola virus for good.
The initial outbreaks were devastating for the communities affected by the virus, but we have learned how to deal with it. The Ebola virus is still ongoing, but scientists have found ways to slow the spread, and are working on stopping the virus completely. By using isolation, vaccines, and education the Ebola virus could be stopped forever.
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