Dangerous Virus of the 21st Century Dissertation

Dangerous Virus of the 21st Century - Dissertation Example It has also to be appreciated that the virus is even a health risk to the researchers and this may account for the seemingly almost absence research on finding either its cure or treatment. All in all, it can be said that even though the disease is fairly widely known among the medical community, the general public appears not to have enough information and this was clear during the recent outbreak. Going forward, it will be interesting to note the efforts that will be directed towards the disease in the coming months and years given that the latest Ebola outbreak appears to have come under control. The outbreak of Ebola virus in parts of West Africa, and specifically Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea surprised the world and filled people with fear. This is because, for the first time, the scale of the outbreak was simply unprecedented (Bradford, 2014, Close, 1995). Many people like never before were affected and killed by the virus, and within days, it had captured the attention of the world. According to several studies, Ebola virus can first be traced to an outbreak in 1976 which affected Sudan and former Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo or simply DRC) (CDC, 2015, Bradford, 2014 and Cohen, 2001). The name Ebola came from the Ebola River which is found in the DRC (Cohen, 2001). Ebola is a viral disease, popularly known as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. It is fatal if left untreated, and fatalities can reach up to 90 percent of the cases (Close, 1995). The most important fact is that Ebola has no known cure and can only be managed by ensuring that the patient is hydrated as it involves a lot of loss of the body fluids. Ebola outbreaks in the past have mainly been confined to rural areas where populations are mostly sparse. This is perhaps why the previous outbreaks were easily contained after a few deaths (Centre for Health Protection, 2014).