Written by Yonje Rhee (Korea International School '19)
━━ August 2st, 2018 ━━
The Ebola Outbreak
Recently, on May 8th, 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that a sudden outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), being a situation of an “epidemiological knife-edge.” The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was first officially discovered in the year of 1976, near the Ebola River of the country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Most commonly known as a zoonotic disease, one that is originated from animals and later passed down to humans, the Ebola Virus Disease has been known to be a fatal virus, with the most common symptoms of a high fever, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding. The virus is transmitted between humans through mild contact of bodily fluids of an individual who is infected with the disease or has recently died with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Although it is a relatively rare disease, the Ebola Virus has had several outbreaks in a series of African countries, such as Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone between 2014-2016.
According to national governmental statistics, 31 cases of Ebola have been confirmed, although many believe otherwise, strongly believing that there is a possibility that many have not been tested for sure. The first cases in 2018 were reported in the secluded town of Bikoro, located north-west of the Equateur Province. However, by the first couple days of June, hospitals across the country reported that several people had died in Mbandaka, the Equateur Province capital. The news of the Ebola Virus being spread to a city full of more than one million citizens and the transport hub to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, has changed the situation for the worse, making the risk of the disease much higher than it used to be in the early month of May. The outbreak of Ebola has caused many scientists and researchers to begin to cure up a vaccination for the citizens, vaccinating more than 1000 people so far. Although there is no exact cure for the Ebola Virus Disease, nine confirmed Ebola patients have apparently already been cured and free from infection of the disease.
The vaccination, which has been tested on over 1,800 health workers and other country citizens, is experimental and the effects of the vaccination have been optimistic. Called the rVSV-ZEBOV, a vaccination kept under extremely cold temperatures, the vaccination, once injected into the human body, creates an immune response that protects itself against the virus, creating an antibody comeback with a protein that the body induces in order to protect itself against the Ebola Virus. As of now, unfortunately, this specific vaccination is merely a trial. Originally, when being proven to have some efficiency in a ring vaccination in Guinea, it was considered to be the “miracle cure.” However, with larger outbreaks such as in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the vaccination was not strong enough to show similar results as it did in Guinea. As scientists and researchers continue building and strengthening the antidote, those infected in Congo remain hopeful of their situation and put their full confidence in both the science and background of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination.
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Bibliography:
Essa, Azad. “Ebola in the DRC: Everything You Need to Know.” Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 25 May 2018,
www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/ebola-drc-180525080118545.html.
McKirdy, Euan. “WHO Raises Ebola Health Risk to 'Very High' in DRC.” CNN, Cable News
Network, 23 May 2018,
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4445.
Nataflin, UNICEF. “WHO Reports 'Very Strong Progress' in Battling DR Congo Ebola
Outbreak | UN News.” United Nations, United Nations, 8 June 2018,
news.un.org/en/story/2018/06/1011781.
Press, The Associated. “Congo Begins Ebola Vaccinations Around Outbreak Area.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 28 May 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/world/africa/congo-ebola-vaccinations.html.
“The DR Congo Ebola Outbreak.” Human Rights Watch, 6 June 2018,
www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/06/dr-congo-ebola-outbreak.
Pictures:
- https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180524154744-ebola-2014-exlarge-169.jpg
- https://www.usnews.com/dims4/USNEWS/9d4c30a/2147483647/thumbnail/970x647/quality/85/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.beam.usnews.com%2F4e%2Fc440a331ef135e137e5acbf2f67ac4%2Fresizes%2F1500%2Fmedia%3Ac1ef81582ced407d8ad0e3d0cb0f821eCongo_Ebola_29039.jpg
- https://www.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/08351844.jpg
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To contact the author, email Yonje Rhee at yrhee19@student.kis.or.kr
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