By Morgan Williams
WOLRD NEWS EDITOR
When hearing the word ‘Ebola’ in the news every day, it is important to understand what it is how threatening it can be.
Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding spread through contact with infected body fluids by a filovirus.
Symptoms of this disease include: fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
An alarming aspect of this disease is that it can take two to twenty-one days before someone actually shows symptoms.
Thankfully, Ebola is not an airborne virus. In order to fall ill with this disease, one must come into contact with the blood, sweat, saliva, feces, semen, vomit, or soiled clothing of an Ebola patient.
As of right now, there is no cure, but scientists are working on creating a drug to control and treat Ebola. They are still trying to conduct an early stage clinical trial to test it.
Contrary to popular belief, Ebola is not a new virus. The first Ebola case was recorded in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This current outbreak is the first complex outbreak of the disease since it was first discovered.
In order to prevent a deadly outbreak in the United States, America’s five busiest airports are testing everyone coming from an Ebola-affected country by taking their temperatures. The travelers that show signs of the virus will be quarantined, and the ones that do not, will be informed of how to watch for symptoms.
In America, there has already been one case of Ebola.
Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan was visiting his family in Dallas when it was confirmed that he had contracted the virus on September 30, 2014. After treatment in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Duncan passed away on October 8, 2014.
There were multiple people that have been suspected to have the virus, but Duncan was the first confirmed case and the first death in America.
Now people all over the world must take precautions to prevent this epidemic from growing.