In this written assignment, provide an example of an epidemiology event (from a written source such as a newspaper or article)Identify the problem including when and where it occurred.Identify the hos

Epidemiological Event – Impact and Assessment: Ebola Outbreak

Epidemiological Event – Impact and Assessment: Ebola Outbreak

The epidemiological event of question here is the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016. This is not an unprecedented event as there were two instances in 1976 when this virus was first seen in the areas of Congo and Sudan. However, this most recent one saw a substantially higher death count, while the virus spread to multiple countries. In that instance, the outbreak originated in Guinea and then transmitted to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Mali. Nations in Europe and North America also some cases of the disease (“Ebola virus,” 2018).

The Ebola virus was initially identified in a village near the Ebola River in Congo in 1976. The virus of Ebolavirus falls under the Filoviridae family; there are also five identified species under this genera. They are Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan Reston and Tai Forest. The prominent species from the African outbreaks were the first three, and the second one specifically was responsible for the outbreak of 2014-2016 (“Ebola virus,” 2018).

The reservoir for this virus is currently identified to be bats. These hosts are able to spread the disease to vulnerable animal populations with direct contact form bodily fluids and secretions. It is suspected that this how the disease was transmitted to the human population as well. During the recent outbreak, the index patient was an 18-year old boy whose family lived in the vicinity of a large colony of bats. The family and neighbors of this deceased boy soon became ill with similar symptoms and passed away. This human-to-human transmission is facilitated through direct or indirect contact as well with bodily fluids. Healthcare workers who didn’t practice safe adequate infection control precautions as well as relatives who carried out the burial ceremonies were came into contact with this virus as well. Though more data is needed to confirm the risks of sexual transmission, WHO recommends sexual abstinence till semen has been twice tested negative (“Ebola outbreak,” 2018).

The overall global health response and the results from this recent Ebola outbreak highlighted the health disparities among the nations involved. Out of the all the nations that saw a major number of cases, Congo, Guinea and Mali saw a fatality rate of approximately 70%, which is relatively higher compared to other affluent nations. According to Fauci (2014), the initial Ebola cases in these regions were attributed to other already prevalent infectious diseases like Malaria. There is also an absence of stringent border policies between these nations, which makes the transmission that much easier. In addition, scarcity of healthcare resources associated with healthcare professionals and protective equipment further emphasized this disparity. Last but not least, traditional practices associated with the handling of the dead bodies during burial ceremony resulted in further direct contact with the virus, facilitating the transmission. Compared to this situation, when an infected individual was introduced to major nations through air travel, a huge healthcare was surmounted to isolate these individuals, provide advanced care and then back-trace these individuals to identify more potential victims. These strategies were not effectively employed in West Africa (Fauci, 2014).

This writer failed to grasp the severity of this outbreak at the time that it was occurring. Being in a first-world country nation like United States really makes it difficult to comprehend the living conditions associated with the transmission of such a diseases as well the struggles in acquiring proper healthcare. Combined with the amount of pathological and public health knowledge from nursing school, the research for this paper has helped this writer understand the implications such an outbreak in the future. Not only was several lives lost from this disease but he society has suffered as well. The already-strained relationship between the people and the public health agency suffered greatly. It is now known that prompt global involvement and support is necessary to avoid the escalation of a similar future outbreak.

Reference

Ebola outbreak in West Africa. (2017). Retrieved October 28, 2018, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html

Ebola virus disease. (2018). Retrieved October 28, 2018, from World Health Organization http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-virus-disease

Fauci, A. S. (2014). Ebola: Underscoring the global disparities in health care resources. The New England Journal of Medicine, 371(12), 1084–1086. https://doi-org.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/10.1056/NEJMp1409494