Ebola is the newest craze that’s sweeping around the globe. Jokes are popular on social media but it definitely isn’t a laughing matter. The symptoms go from bad to worse: “ sore muscles, headaches, stomach pains, diarrhea, vomiting” (Trenchard) and then you start to see bruises and giant blisters. Next thing you know, your nose and eyes are bleeding. This combination of ailments sounds like something from a horror story. For thousands of people, however, these horrors have become reality. Although Ebola is hard to contract, nevertheless we need to find a way to combat the disease, because it can easily spiral out of control. We can do this by keeping clean and using our heads, new-found tests, and isolation wards. This deadly virus is, believe
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Mukherjee comes from a medical background, and he has used his expertise to describe a quick way to test for Ebola. The author thinks that instead of banning all flights, "scanning" people, or quarantine, a simple blood test could be used. Banning flights could prevent healthcare workers from reaching areas that are in dire need of help. It would probably end up doing more harm than good. If someone underwent this simple blood test before they boarded the plane, the test results would be back by the time they landed from an 8-hour long transatlantic flight. By the time the host has a fever, they are already infectious with Ebola. A fever can also easily be masked by taking things such as Tylenol or ibuprofen. This breakthrough test only involves taking a teaspoon of blood. Ever since the 1990s, doctors have been able to detect viruses before the host actually starts to show symptoms. The main test they use is the polymerase chain reaction, or “a chemical reaction that amplifies pieces of a virus’s genes floating in blood by more than a millionfold” (Mukherjee). The polymerase chain reaction helps the doctors identify infections earlier than slower, more inefficient testing methods. Once the blood is taken, it is then transported to a lab and the results are back within a few hours. This test could not only help fight the spread of Ebola, but also create jobs for people. Someone would have to send the blood to the lab and someone else would have to relay test results to various airports and certain people, etc.According to Mukherjee, the cost would be between $60 and $200. That’s not a very big price to pay since, “we have already spent 100 times more disposing of the contaminated sheets from the home Mr. Duncan [the first Ebola patient in the United States] stayed in” (Mukherjee). Sixty dollars or more might seem like a lot but you probably wouldn’t be
Mukherjee comes from a medical background, and he has used his expertise to describe a quick way to test for Ebola. The author thinks that instead of banning all flights, "scanning" people, or quarantine, a simple blood test could be used. Banning flights could prevent healthcare workers from reaching areas that are in dire need of help. It would probably end up doing more harm than good. If someone underwent this simple blood test before they boarded the plane, the test results would be back by the time they landed from an 8-hour long transatlantic flight. By the time the host has a fever, they are already infectious with Ebola. A fever can also easily be masked by taking things such as Tylenol or ibuprofen. This breakthrough test only involves taking a teaspoon of blood. Ever since the 1990s, doctors have been able to detect viruses before the host actually starts to show symptoms. The main test they use is the polymerase chain reaction, or “a chemical reaction that amplifies pieces of a virus’s genes floating in blood by more than a millionfold” (Mukherjee). The polymerase chain reaction helps the doctors identify infections earlier than slower, more inefficient testing methods. Once the blood is taken, it is then transported to a lab and the results are back within a few hours. This test could not only help fight the spread of Ebola, but also create jobs for people. Someone would have to send the blood to the lab and someone else would have to relay test results to various airports and certain people, etc.According to Mukherjee, the cost would be between $60 and $200. That’s not a very big price to pay since, “we have already spent 100 times more disposing of the contaminated sheets from the home Mr. Duncan [the first Ebola patient in the United States] stayed in” (Mukherjee). Sixty dollars or more might seem like a lot but you probably wouldn’t be