The article states that the one thing that the airports are using to check for Ebola for the returning passengers is a fever. The fever is the main thing they check for, but some biologist think that in some cases the fever don’t come on until one of the later phases. The world Health Organization stated that,” The finding that 87. 1% of those infected exhibited fever — but 12. 9% did not — illustrates the challenges confronting health authorities as they struggle to contain the epidemic. ” Some scientist thinks that by checking for a fever is a sure way to catch the virus.
It is shown that it is not 100% sure that every person tested would show symptoms of a fever. This purpose of this article was to inform people that the methods that the airports and government are using, will not completely catch every person who has the Ebola virus that comes back into the United States. Dr. Paul D. Stolley, former chairman of the University of Maryland’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, said the matter “requires further investigation. ” (David Willman, 2014, pg. 1) The CDC also believes that only checking just for a fever isn’t enough when it comes to a virus of this magnitude.
Based on what his staff observed, Zwinkels wrote, “it seems that only measuring the temperature as a form of triage is insufficient. ” He added: “It seems that Ebola can present without fever especially in the first phase. ” Zwinkels said that without fever as a trustworthy marker, it is difficult for medical professionals to treat the many West Africans suffering from everyday maladies. (David Willman, 2014, pg. 1) This article related to biology in every way possible. It is the prime example of biology and what biology is. We have talked about diseases and viruses and how they work against you.
In West Africa the number of Ebola patients has doubles and in some places has tripled. When trying to understand the larger picture of what’s going on in the United States you have to look at what is going on in West Africa. It’s a major problem with containment. Because people don’t know they have the virus until it’s too late. Especially when trying to go by just the fever symptoms alone. In West Africa some patents never experienced a fever at all. The numbers for West Africa’s death rate is staggering. These are the numbers, “The majority of patients are 15 to 44 years of age (49. 9% male), and we estimate that the case fatality rate is 70.
8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 69 to 73) among persons with known clinical outcome of infection. The course of infection, including signs and symptoms, incubation period (11. 4 days), and serial interval (15. 3 days), is similar to that reported in previous outbreaks of EVD. On the basis of the initial periods of exponential growth, the estimated basic reproduction numbers (R0 ) are 1. 71 (95% CI, 1. 44 to 2. 01) for Guinea, 1. 83 (95% CI, 1. 72 to 1. 94) for Liberia, and 2. 02 (95% CI, 1. 79 to 2. 26) for Sierra Leone.
The estimated current reproduction numbers (R) are 1. 81 (95% CI, 1. 60 to 2. 03) for Guinea, 1. 51 (95% CI, 1. 41 to 1.60) for Liberia, and 1. 38 (95% CI, 1. 27 to 1. 51) for Sierra Leone; the corresponding doubling times are 15. 7 days (95% CI, 12. 9 to 20. 3) for Guinea, 23. 6 days (95% CI, 20. 2 to 28. 2) for Liberia, and 30. 2 days (95% CI, 23. 6 to 42. 3) for Sierra Leone.
Assuming no change in the control measures for this epidemic, by November 2, 2014, the cumulative reported numbers of confirmed and probable cases are predicted to be 5740 in Guinea, 9890 in Liberia, and 5000 in Sierra Leone, exceeding 20,000 in total. ” (N Engl J Med, 2014, 371(16), pg 1481-95) When it comes to me traveling as much as I do, I feel this article affects me a lot.
People need to know the dangers they face when traveling through airport that has flights that come from overseas. This is as an issue that needs more attention and understanding of matter that involves everyone’s livelihood here within the United Stated. The Center for Disease Control needs to be more honest about the information they put out into the public. When it comes to a virus that can cause a Pandemic in the U. S. , I feel that it should be funded 100%. We can’t go on not funding a virus that could wipe out the human race. We have to stop it in its tracks right now. Giving the proper funding it needs could help prevent this very thing from happening in our own back yard.
References Team, W. E. R. (2014). Ebola virus disease in West Africa—the first 9 months of the epidemic and forward projections. N Engl J Med, 371(16), 1481-95. Leroy, E. M. , Rouquet, P. , Formenty, P. , Souquiere, S. , Kilbourne, A. , Froment, J. M. , … & Rollin, P. E. (2004). Multiple Ebola virus transmission events and rapid decline of central African wildlife. Science, 303(5656), 387-390. Elliott, L. H. , Kiley, M. P. , & McCormick, J. B. (1985). Descriptive analysis of Ebola virus proteins. Virology, 147(1), 169-176.