Ebola Virus Essays (1820 words) - Biological Weapons,

Ebola Virus In the world today, there are many known deadly viruses, but few present as great a threat as Ebola, the virus that causes Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. Key factors in understanding Ebola HF include: Its history, plan of attack, and the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The Ebola virus can, and usually does cause a disease called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which is a Viral hemorrhagic fever. According to the proceedings of the 4th National Symposium on Biosafety, the clinical definition for Viral hemorrhagic fever is as follows. "Viral hemorrhagic fever is an acute infection that begins with fever, myalgia, malaise and progresses to prostration. It shows evidence of vascular dysregulation and increased vascular permeability and can include multisystem involvement. The hemorrhage indicates extent of small vessel involvement but not necessarily large in volume. Shock, encephalopathy, extensive hemorrhage, and poor prognosis should be expected" (4th National 2). The Ebola virus is named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) in Africa, where it was first recognized. The Ebola virus is closely related to the Marburg virus. Both are members of a relatively new family of viruses called Filoviradae. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is classified as a BSL-4 (biosafety level 4) agent, which is the most dangerous in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classification system. BSL-4 agents are exotic agents that pose a high risk of life-threatening disease, and for which there is no vaccine or therapy. "Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans and non human primates (monkeys and chimpanzees) that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976" (CDC 1). Common human perceptions of this virus are, for the most part, accurate in that it is a highly contagious agent that can cause a fatal disease called Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Although, there are a few misconceptions such as the belief that the virus can be transmitted from person to person through the air, which is not known to be true, and later explained. Also, contrary to popular assumptions, humans are not carriers of the virus, as we are with the influenza virus, 2 for example. The initial patient in an outbreak must have somehow contracted the virus from an infected primate carrier, such as a monkey, which will also be explained. Listed, are some of the more pertinent outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. In 1976, the first and largest outbreak of the virus occurred in Yambuku, Zaire, killing 88% of 318 infected patients. This species was named respectively, Ebola-Zaire, and has appeared in four other outbreaks to date. The Ebola-Sudan species appeared, naturally in the cities of Nzara and Maridi, Sudan also in 1976. The death toll was much less than the Zaire outbreak at 53% of 284 infected persons. In 1995, the Ebola-Zaire species struck again, killing 81% of 315 reported cases. This time, the outbreak occurred in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was the new name Zaire. In the United States, to date, no case of the disease in humans has ever been reported, not to say the virus has never been here. In 1989, 1990, and 1996, Ebola, or at least a weaker species of the virus was brought into quarantined facilities in Virginia, Texas, and Pennsylvania by infected monkeys imported from the Philippines. In both 1989 and 1990, four humans were infected with the virus, but did not become ill. Obviously, the species of the virus, now called Ebola-Reston, that entered the United States was a much weaker species than those in Zaire and Sudan. "The Reston outbreak served as an important wake-up call for the U.S. Army and CDC research groups. Among other things, it demonstrated the need for better diagnostic tools" (4th National 10). Transmission of the Ebola virus is highly dependent upon the initial infection of a human. It is hypothesized that the first infected human in an outbreak must have been infected by an animal. This first infected patient in an outbreak is called the index case. At this point, humans can transmit the virus from person to person in several ways. People can contract the Ebola virus through contact with the blood and/or secretions of an infected person. For this reason, this virus is commonly spread among family members in the course of feeding, holding, or otherwise caring for infected persons in any way that they would come in contact with such 3 secretions. Also, people can be exposed to the virus through contact with objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with infected secretions. The

The Choosen essays

The Choosen essays The Chosen, a novel written by Chaim Potok, revolves mainly around the lives of four people. They include Reuven Malter, Mr. Malter, Reb Saunders and Danny Saunders. It mainly details the friendship between Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders and not as much around their fathers, Mr. Malter and Reb Saunders. Because the story revolves around the friendship of Reuven and Danny, I will focus on Reuven. The story takes place in Brooklyn around the time of World War II. Reuven Malter lives with his father in an apartment in Brooklyn. They live in a Hasidic and Orthodox area, with some Irish, German, and Spanish families. Most of the buildings around were three or four story brownstones. According to the book, only a few stores in the area were owned by Orthodox Jews. The rest were run by gentiles. Reuven lives in a world that is just out of the depression and World War II, and we, up until September eleventh, lived in a world which was different than his world. We were in a peaceful and prosperous time, while Reuven was in a world where the economy was only beginning to recover and the war was only just ending. Now we are at a time where our economy is not booming and we are gearing up for war. Reuven attended a yeshiva, which is a Jewish parochial school. Reuvens father Mr. Malter taught in the yeshiva that Reuven attended. This school was looked down upon by other schools because of the fact that it taught its Jewish subjects in Hebrew and not Yiddish, and it also offered more subjects in English than the minimum requirement. Reuven played baseball on his schools varsity softball team and he was a good second basemen and pitcher. His team was number one in their league, partly because of the coaching of their gym instructor, Mr. Galanter. Reuven along with the other members of his softball team wondered why their gym instructor was not fighting in a war somewhere because he would constantly ta ...

Why collaboration is so important in decision making in institutions Essay

Why collaboration is so important in decision making in institutions of higher learning - Essay Example It is interesting, for instance, to read Bennis (1959) from the late 1950s; he was speaking of a radical shift in thinking about leadership which we take for granted today. Likewise with Heifetz (1994); his earliest writings contain the seeds of ideas, the beginnings of investigation into a powerful theory on adaptive leadership. Interviews with these thinkers were sought out as primary sources for this essay in order to touch upon what they are saying outside the boundaries of their seminal works (Bielaszka-DuVerney, 2009; Brennan, 1998; Gary, 2005; Kezar, 2008). These two theorists’ ideas dovetail with each other to paint a picture of how leadership fits into the most collaborative â€Å"business† in existence: higher education. Stakeholders, decision makers, and leaders in higher education come from all walks of life and all kinds of experiences. The second part of this paper explores the concept of â€Å"diversity† in depth, and attempts to define what diversity should mean to collaborative groups at institutions of higher learning. Gloria Ladson-Billings’ framework (2006; 2005; 2001; 1996) informs the discussion along with a multitude of others who have opinions on the subject. Both the idea of diversity and the various ways a collaborative group should approach it are fuzzy; encouraging surface diversity is not as effective as demanding deep diversity. Finally, the role of new technologies in forming and maintaining collaborative groups is an important consideration. The third section of this essay touches upon ways Web 2.0 makes life easier (and harder) for groups, and defines some perhaps unfamiliar terms. Technology is automatically out of date when it is released, or a new cutting edge product comes along which seems like the answer to everyone’s prayers. I believe the current suites of collaborative tools are excellent in some ways