Ebola Virus can be a future pandemic if the countries fail to contain it at its early stages. Currently, this epidemic has killed a good number of people, especially in the West African States. Therefore, this study paper aims to evaluate different measures that can be applied to reduce the spread of Ebola. The only foolproof method that has proven effective in fighting against pandemic outbreaks is the containment measures.
Ebola must be contained to ensure the health security of all people from different countries, regions, and ethnicities. Some of the prevention measures put in place include contact tracing of all the affected people and banning travels in and out of infected areas whenever there is an Ebola outbreak. However, quarantine might not be a permanent solution and hence the need for a sustainable measure. A vaccine has been considered as one of the significant sustainable measures. Vaccines are being developed to curb the spread of Ebola. However, since they are usually limited at initial stages, this study suggests that children be immunized first since they are more vulnerable than adults and teenagers.
Ebola virus disease is a deadly pandemic that was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Jacob et al., 2020). According to Jacob et al. (2020), the Ebola virus is one of the ailments that has killed many people. The Ebola pandemic has a high mortality rate to humankind and can be transmitted to human and non-human primates. The Ebola virus has been a significant challenge to the world since the time it was first discovered in Zaire.
The virus was found in a blood of a Catholic nun who was suspected to be having yellow fever. Ebola virus is believed to be transmitted by direct contact with infected live or dead animals. The symptoms of this disease are fever and subsequent bleeding diathesis. It’s caused by Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus, and Reston ebolavirus.
This paper studies the possible preventive measures that can be applied to counteract the spread of Ebola, making it a devastating challenge worldwide. It first studies the effects of Ebola and its rate of spread which is a major cause of concern for many countries across different continents.
Effects of Ebola and Rate of Spread
The Ebola virus has extensively spread to most of the Western African countries. The affected countries’ economy has been negatively affected as they invest much of their finance to overcome the disease. According to Elmahdawy et al. (2017), the struggling health sector in West African countries experience a hard time reducing the causes and the spread of this epidemic. This disease is contracted by direct contact with infected animals or direct contact with the body fluids of infected patients (Elmahdawy et al.,2015). Many Ebola patients in West African countries never visit health centers because of overcrowding in health facilities or fear of stigmatization.
Prevention Measures for Ebola
The primary control measure of the Ebola epidemic involves the implementation of efficient and effective public health sector measures (Levy et al., 2018). These measures include identification, isolation of cases, contact tracing, and isolation of contacts. These measures help in ensuring the infected patients do spread the disease at a higher rate. The effort to come up with an Ebola vaccine is also significant in controlling this epidemic. If a vaccine against this epidemic is discovered, people can be vaccinated, and contact with the virus can reduce.
Such efforts as supporting affected countries and strengthening their health facilities can significantly contribute to the prevention of this virus. Working with a non-government organization such as World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC assisted in providing equipment like geographic information systems to track and evaluate the trend of the Ebola epidemic (Alirol et al., 2020). WHO has played a crucial role in improving contact tracing, which has facilitated the containment of the disease.
European Union has contributed laboratory testing equipment to the affected countries in support of managing the epidemic. Health promotion and communication have helped to minimize the disease’s misinformation and address people to reduce stigma. The Ministries of Health and airport authorities in the affected countries can help reduce the spread of Ebola by establishing screening of travelers to prevent them from spreading the disease to the other non-affected countries.
People can protect themselves from Ebola by following specific prevention and control measures. First, people should be vaccinated after the Ebola case is detected (Marzi & Mire, 2019). It is also recommendable that people and, if necessary, children be immunized against this epidemic immediately after birth. Also, governments worldwide should at least vaccinate their citizens after a given period. Making the Ebola vaccine cheap can reduce the spread of the disease as people can afford the vaccination payment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Ebola epidemic is a deadly disease that greatly affected West African countries. This disease is highly transmitted as it affects both human and non-human primates. It is contracted by contacting the body of an infected animal or contacting the fluid of infected animals. Ebola signs include fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat. Ebola can be prevented by hand washing and avoiding contact with the fluid of individuals who are believed or suspected to have this virus.
References
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