Then come back here to discuss the findings: what surprised you? what misconceptions did you have? what are your views about research on human subjects in the middle of an epidemic? Try to apply some of your readings to the situation.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Ebola (14 Feb)
The point of this blog post is to have a place to discuss some quick collective research. Let's collectively summarize our findings using a Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WICpxJev3rxqddVjCztgAXZEGfHqfP588_oTSIbnV2k/edit?usp=sharing
Then come back here to discuss the findings: what surprised you? what misconceptions did you have? what are your views about research on human subjects in the middle of an epidemic? Try to apply some of your readings to the situation.
Then come back here to discuss the findings: what surprised you? what misconceptions did you have? what are your views about research on human subjects in the middle of an epidemic? Try to apply some of your readings to the situation.
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When I first heard about the epidemic, I was very close-minded and wondered why we were sending so many doctors and nurses overseas that would only contract the virus and bring it back to the U.S. However, after reading Obama's press conference on the Liberian people and how much we have helped to save them (along with the people of Guinea and Sierra Leone), and how we are one of the few countries with the intelligence to save them, I have a much better understanding of this choice. Obama states that by the end of April they will only have 100 troops/medical staff in Liberia to help eliminate the virus, because it should be under control by then, and how they will be able to start a vaccination program to prevent further spreading.
ReplyDeleteThe newest drug being sent overseas is the ZMapp, which was the drug used on the first American Ebola patient, Dr.Brantly. The drug is very hard to produce and is in such little quantities that they have to bottle it in vials and send it out immediately. They have been testing this drug on monkeys and it has been very successful. As far as human subjects, it is not confirmed that the drug is actually what saved Dr. Brantly, but they are beginning to run test trials on patients in Sierra Leone now that their production is slowly picking up pace (as of only four days ago). However, the French have conducted their own drug to be tested which is much easier and quicker to distribute -- so there are currently two drugs in the works.
What surprised me came from my second source -- I was unaware that the virus was only spread through fluids, I had assumed it to be airborne with the amount of people who contracted it. I also didn't realize that it could only be spread once symptoms are shown, even if you've already had it for a few days w/o symptoms! It also comforted me to know that flight attendants traveling to these areas (Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia) are trained to look for passengers who experience severe vomiting or diarrhea, so that they can keep them from infecting other passengers.There have also been holding cells created to isolate these passengers once they've landed, to prevent further spreading.
One thing that surprised me after reading through some of the articles is the fact that it is still hitting Africa pretty hard. I feel so ignorant saying this but I really haven't seen much about it in the media I consumed so I just thought that the epidemic was pretty much over. As we can see, that is definitely not the case. (It doesn't help that I no longer get the Ebola Weekly Update from our previous Death and Dying Class from last semester).
ReplyDeleteAs Sam mentioned, there has been a lot of research done in the past few months resulting in the development of a few different vaccines/drugs. Preliminary tests have shown that some of these drugs have been fairly successful but typically they are not easy to synthesize. I found it interesting that one vaccine is about to be shipped out but it can only be shipped to certain facilities that are able to actually store the vaccine appropriately. It appears to be so sensitive to outside forces that it will become ineffective if not taken care of with extreme caution.
On the bright side, some of the articles I have read have said that the number of new cases is declining. One source said that there had been only 11 newly infected people over the course of three weeks in Liberia. While this is still not a great statistic, it is much better than the statistics from the past eight months. While the Ebola virus may not have been eradicated in Africa, the numbers of newly infected people are definitely decreasing!