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Jaime Quansah
English 101
Proff. Mahdis Marzooghian
October 21, 2014

Ebola
For the past couple months, there has been a serious disease affecting the West African
nation of Liberia. Not only has the disease infected many individuals living in this nation, but it
has begun to spread to neighboring nations, such as Guinea, Nigeria, Mali, Sierra Leone, and
Senegal. The disease has crossed borders and affected some in the United States and Spain. If the
United States can help their infected citizens to be cured from the virus, they can help prevent the
disease from killing more individuals in Africa. Why have the infected Americans been cured,
but many Africans are still being killed by the virus? The disease can be stopped by the United
States supplying the affected African nations with more medical equipment capable of curing the
infected and stopping the further spread of the disease. Even though the outbreak began in
Africa, it should not have been neglected until an American became infected by the deadly
disease. Many Africans have been already killed by this disease and are praying for a stop to this
killer virus.
According to About Ebola Virus Disease, the deadly virus of Ebola was first
discovered in 1976, in the central African country of Congo, which is now the Democratic

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Republic of Congo, near the Ebola River. The disease is a combination of five other viruses. Four
of the viruses are known to cause disease in humans, and the other causes disease in nonhuman
primates. Even though the host of the virus remains unknown, scientists believe that the virus is
born in bats, and might be the reservoir. Bats are native to many countries in Africa, so there is a
greater chance for humans to be infected by the disease. Recently the deadly virus has sprouted
up in the western African nation of Liberia. According to James Gallagher, the author of, "Ebola:
How Many People Have Died?" over 5,000 people have died from the deadly virus, and continue
to be infected by this disease. The symptoms of the virus include high fever, severe headaches,
muscle pains, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and bleeding and bruising. All these
symptoms occur through contact of bodily fluids of an infected individual, and also apes and
monkeys. Over the past three months, this virus has been spreading very quickly, (Gallagher)
As the virus began to spread in Liberia, one man named Thomas Duncan wanted to leave
Liberia. He traveled to the United States and did not tell anyone that he had been around
individuals with the virus. He made his way into the city of Dallas, Texas where he then began to
feel ill. He went to Texas Health Presbyterian, a local Dallas hospital, and was given an antibiotic
for a fever and was later discharged from the hospital. A few days later, the hospital discovered
that they had wrongly diagnosed Duncan. The hospital thought Duncan had a normal fever of
100.1 degrees F. After being wrongly diagnosed, Thomas Duncan became the first person to be
diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. According to the article, "Ebola and Racism," his
apartment was then guarded by armed officers to prevent him from slipping away (Sam J.D
Riddle.) Armed officers were really not necessary. They acted like he was a serial killer on a
television show. First of all, if an individual came in feeling ill and said he had traveled here
from another country, several tests should have been ran on the individual. According to the
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unnamed nurse that worked at the hospital, they didnt run any test at all and just sent him home
with antibiotics. Since I first heard about the Ebola outbreak, I felt as if many of the Africans
suffering were left to suffer and nobody paid Ebola attention until it started to affect the United
States.
The first American diagnosed with Ebola was Dr. Kent Brantly. He was flown to Emory
University Hospital to an isolation ward, where he was then able to walk himself into the
isolation ward, but where were the big guns and armed guards like Thomas Duncan had? 19 days
passed by, during which Dr. Kent was undergoing treatment and was later discharged and
declared virus-free. Unlike Dr. Kent, Duncan was immediately isolated and cared for with no
extensive treatment like Dr. Kent had received. Ten days later, Duncan was declared dead.
ZMapp, an experimental drug developed to combat Ebola was made available to white Doctor
Kent Brantly and white missionary Nancy Writebol. Uh, seems none was available for Mr.
Duncan, a Black man with Ebola now on life support. (Sam J.D Riddle.) The nurses that had
attended to Duncan had also contracted the deadly virus. They were both transported to different
hospitals, and in a matter of days, they were also declared to be virus-free like Dr. Kent.
According to "Ebola in America: Timeline of the Deadly Virus, Duncan had lied on his exit
form to enter the United States. That is still not a legitimate reason that a patient should be left to
die and not given the same treatment as the other infected Americans.
Many people feel as if there is no more the United States can do to help the African
countries affected by the disease. Some senators feel as if the Ebola outbreak is a distraction
from the current issues the United States is currently facing. If the Ebola epidemic is neglected
and forgotten, it can turn into a global epidemic affecting many different countries and killing
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more people around the globe. According to the webpage, "Could the U.S. Have Done More to
Prevent Ebola from Arriving?" the recently cured Dr. Kent Brantly said the American response
"has remained sluggish and unacceptably out of step with the scope and the size of the problem
that is now before us."(Brantley)
In the television series The Ebola Hot Zone, the CBS special shows the everyday
battle against Ebola in the nation of Liberia. It shows how local doctors are trying to contain the
deadly disease by making their own small hospital with rows of small shacks containing the
infected citizens. Many of the nurses caring for the infected are locals who volunteer to help try
and contain the virus. When they return to the city, they are avoided by many people and out
casted because the deadly virus has struck so much fear in the citizens. They try their best to stop
the spread of the disease by spraying canisters filled with chlorine everywhere an infected patient
touches. If there are infected individuals in the city, the volunteers use a pickup truck as an
ambulance to bring the patient to the makeshift Ebola hospital. According to the nurses in the
CBS special, the conditions are very bad and the air is filled with the loud cries of people losing
family members and the strong scent of chlorine, which is used as a disinfecting spray. The show
clearly shows what the many people go through without medical equipment or hospitals. Not
only does the show depict the hard life, but it should give the United States a clue on what they
need in these African nations. The United States can help stop this disease by supplying the
affected African nations with the necessary medical supplies and equipment capable of curing the
infected.
The deadly Ebola virus has stirred up much controversy in the past couple months and
still continues to kill many people. With the amount of deaths the disease has caused, it is still
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over-looked. The awareness level of the virus is not as high as it should be. The book, Ebola:
The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus, written by David Quammen, shows the
deadly virus as an African disease. This virus is not just an African Disease, it is a virus that
can affect anyone no matter if one is a president, preacher, doctor, or even a rapper. Majority of
the time, many joke as if this virus is a joke and cannot affect them, but in reality it can severely
affect thousands if it is not controlled. On social networks, the deadly virus is taken as a joke
with many individuals saying one has the virus when they begin to cough or sneeze. It does not
have to do with race or what country one is from, so it should not be taken lightly. If awareness is
raised, more people will not take the ebola epidemic lightly and realize how deadly it is. With
the help of the United States, the deadly virus can be cured in the nations where it started and
preventthe further spread of the deadly virus

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Works Cited
"Angry Nurses Tell of Ebola Patients Arrival at Texas Hospital | The Health Care
Blog." Angry Nurses Tell of Ebola Patients Arrival at Texas Hospital | The Health
Care Blog. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
<http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2014/10/15/angry-nurses-detail-patient-zerosarrival-at-texas-hospital/>.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 19 May 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/>.
"Could the U.S. Have Done More to Prevent Ebola from Arriving?" CBSNews. CBS
Interactive, 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebolacould-the-u-s-have-done-more-to-prevent-it-from-arriving/>.
Fernandez, Manny, and Julie Bosman. "Ebola Victims Family Blames Hospital and
State." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/us/ebola-victims-family-blames-hospital-andstate.html?_r=0>.

Gallagher, James. "Ebola: How Many People Have Died?" BBC News. 15 Oct. 2014.
Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29628481>.