Ebola hemorrhagic fever, or Ebola for short, has caused many socio-cultural, political, and economic implications throughout the world. There have been many diseases and viruses throughout history that have caused turmoil and have changed the way the world functions. However, what makes this disease so detrimental is through the way that it is passed and the health implications it has on an individual with the disease. Although Ebola has been around since 1976. It originated from the Ebola river; hence the name of the disease. Most recently there has been a major outbreak in the disease and has spread nationally which is the main cause for its emergence.
Although there are no cures yet for this viral disease, by giving awareness, there will be more caution and less people getting diagnosed with Ebola. It has been theorized that the transmission of the outbreak began through fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family which are natural Ebola hosts. It began through spread throughout the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as blood of infected animals.
What is even more shocking is that since viruses and diseases have a higher rate of evolving mutations, Ebola can now spread from human to human through surfaces of materials that contain the bodily fluid. Different cultures have different views and ways of expressing their concern towards the disease. It is really surprising to me how the US, takes on the comical side of Ebola. Whether it is to make people feel less stressed about the situation or whether it is our lack of knowledge as Americans; in different countries there is much violence and genocide. It means killing or the destruction of a group in order to maintain or restore order.
In Monrovia, Liberia there have been over 700 different cases of genocide of people that have or are accused of having Ebola. The main cause of all of this is, fear. One family reported saying “we are absolutely afraid, we want to avoid contact with everybody. ” With that in mind, it makes me wonder whether the humorous side that the US is putting is in order to avoid turmoil between Americans like how there is in Liberia. Many people in these countries are not only dying from genocide but from hunger and famine which is malnutrition due to insufficiency of food. With many infected animals, there has been a lack of resources and lack of food.
The Economy is taking a big hit to the outbreak of Ebola. As a nation have many organizations, such Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is an organization that ensures free trade of commodities among countries. With such a high transmitted disease, many organizations and companies will suffer because we would have to close our borders in order to avoid the spread of the disease.
The likelihood of closing down borders may sound scarier to industries than the disease itself because by closing down borders, many companies would not be able to get the commodities (capital materials or product sold for profit) for their consumers to buy and therefore have a major decline in their business.
In the US and other countries the case of beef, which is the way in which the world had become such a big consumer of beef and companies alter beef in order to get the meat selling as quick as possible would change drastically. Personally, my family wants to reduce the chances of getting the disease by not eating meat because since meat is not only processed but it is brought from different countries.
Now if every American family chose to commit to what my family is committing to do in order to stay Ebola free, many farming industries would corrupt. Although there is a likelihood that closing borders could occur, there is a lot of politics that go behind in doing so. President Obama has been very reluctant about closing down borders and stopping flights from infected countries. Why? Because by doing so we are rejecting the framework that we have by being a country of open borders.
This again goes back to how in different countries, their government is trying to control the spread of the disease as much as possible by decreasing the amount of travel and migration, which is the movement of one place to another. By doing so, these countries are trying to decrease the amount of deaths that occur while the US seems to be ties under a political and economic standpoint. Politics is stealing the mentality of many industries, in thinking that they will not think of what occurs in the process of getting a result, otherwise known as the black box.
The black box states that industries put in ideas and money to gain more money in the end regardless of what terrible things occur in the process. Since politics and the economy are pretty much tied down, the government can’t make any drastic decisions such as closing borders without thinking of whether the outcome could result in money or decline in industries and money. I believe that in a political standpoint, the government isn’t taking much consideration on the health implications that closing the borders could have.
In a way, the Ebola outbreak is closely similar to the outbreak of AIDS, a severe autoimmune disease that literally destroy cells. In the late 70’s, when Aids became an outbreak and people had little to no information about the disease there was much violence and discrimination on gays thinking that they were the carries. In reality Aids can be transmitted through bodily fluids, meaning anyone can get the disease although it is stated that in table 8. 3, Aids can be transmitted through drug use. Although there is no cure for AIDS, with more research and understanding we have learned ways to protect ourselves from contracting it.
Similarly to Ebola, there is no current treatment but if we learn more and are cautious about how it is transmitted we can lower our chances of getting the disease. Ebola is probably a word I will not go a day without hearing or talking about it. It has caused so much controversy nationally and internationally in terms of socio cultural, political and the economy. It’s ironic to think that while the American’s take the comical side of Ebola and joke around, many other countries kill due to the fear of death. It’s even crazier to think that in terms of political and economic implications the government and capitalist branches are more worried about losing money than the disease itself!
It seems to me that Ebola is not the only thing that is killing people one by one; but the nation itself and how it is choosing to handle the situation is causing just as many deaths and the disease itself.
Works Cited ?McCoy, Terrence. “Why the Brutal Murder of Several Ebola Workers May Hint at More Violence to Come. ” The Washington Post. Washington Post, n. d. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. <http %3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost. com%2Fnews%2Fmorning-mix%2Fwp %2F2014%2F09%2F19%2Fwhy-the-brutal-murder-of-eight-ebola-workers-may-hint-at- more-violence-to-come%2F>. ?”Ebola Virus Disease. ” Media Centre.
World Health Organization, Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww. who. int%2Fmediacentre%2Ffactsheets %2Ffs103%2Fen%2F>. ?Mukpo, Ashoka. “The Biggest Concern of the Ebola Outbreak Is Political, Not Medical. ” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. <http://www. cdc. gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/index. html>.