{"id":1018,"date":"2014-09-23T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T15:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/?p=1018"},"modified":"2014-09-22T11:23:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T18:23:35","slug":"ebola-why-is-it-so-bad-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/2014\/09\/23\/ebola-why-is-it-so-bad-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola: Why is it so bad? (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The symptoms of Ebola are terrifying. In its later stages it leads to internal and external hemorrhaging\u2014this includes\u00a0bleeding from the eyes and ears.<\/a>\u00a0It can have a death rate of up to 90% (although the current outbreak kills about half of its victims). In addition, there\u2019s no vaccine against it and no particularly effective treatment. Scary, right?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
\"<\/a>

It even LOOKS sinister\u2026 but most viruses do. (Source: Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It even LOOKS sinister\u2026 but most viruses do. (Source: Wikipedia)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Although the disease has certainly takes a terrible toll upon infection, in a transmission-sense the disease is rather mild. NPR\u2019s\u00a0Morning Edition<\/a>\u00a0interviewed Stephen Morse, a virologist at Columbia University, about his opinion on Ebola\u2019s potential to cause a worldwide epidemic. His response: “Luckily for us, unlike the movies, it does not spread like wildfire, and in fact does not even spread the way the flu does. It’s not that easy to catch\u2026 to transmit Ebola, it takes way more than a sneeze, or even a cough. You need direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluid, like their blood or vomit.\u201d Although mutations (around 300) have been shown to be occurring in the current outbreak strain, these have not manifested a significant physiological difference and, researchers agree, will likely not for a good amount of time.<\/div>\n
<\/br><\/div>\n
Further, although the CDC and other public health authorities clearly recognize the threat from Ebola and are taking steps to prepare for a contingency, neither seem too concerned about a pandemic on US soil. Models show a\u00a0slim chance<\/a>\u00a0of Ebola actually reaching US shores. Further, with a straightforward response, the disease would be readily containable.<\/div>\n
<\/br><\/div>\n
Ebola\u2019s mild transmission characteristics raise the question: why is the current outbreak so bad?<\/div>\n
<\/br><\/div>\n
If the cause does not rest entirely in the disease itself, other factors must be at play. Of course, West Africa\u2019s poverty and poor infrastructure contribute to the situation\u2019s direness. But more nuanced and surprising factors are at play, too. In the interest of readability through brevity, we\u2019ll probe this question next week. Stay tuned.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The symptoms of Ebola are terrifying. In its later stages it leads to internal and external hemorrhaging\u2014this includes\u00a0bleeding from the eyes and ears.\u00a0It can have a death rate of up to 90% (although the current outbreak kills about half of its victims). In addition, there\u2019s no vaccine against it and no particularly effective treatment. Scary, right? It even LOOKS sinister\u2026 but most viruses do. (Source: Wikipedia) Although the disease has certainly takes a terrible toll upon infection, in a transmission-sense the disease is rather mild. NPR\u2019s\u00a0Morning Edition\u00a0interviewed Stephen Morse, a virologist at Columbia University, about his opinion on Ebola\u2019s potential Continue reading Ebola: Why is it so bad? (Part 1)<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":388,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/econ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}