Problems And Preventions Of Ebola And AIDS Essays - Ebola, RTT

Problems and Prevention's of Ebola and AIDS Research Paper #4 Thursday, April 18, 1996 Viruses have become of great concern all across the world in the last few decades. The most common and the most talked about killer virus is AIDS, a virus that starts out as HIV and then proceeds to develop into a immune breaker that ultimately kills its human host. So far, there is no cure for AIDS, and most unfortunately the numbers of deaths from AIDS only continues to grow. However, another virus has gained much public and national attention. That virus is called Ebola. It is thought that Ebola's effect on humans is restricted to Zaire, Africa. Viruses that kill people in large masses is a major threat to mankind; the only hopes of destroying the viruses is dependant upon technology. AIDS is a deadly disease that most people understand as a sexually transmitted disease. In fact, the virus can be transmitted sexually, but it can also be transmitted through blood transfusions. The fact that it can be transmitted sexually causes a great problem. Everyday, enormous amounts of people have sex--some people with different partners. People may have less sex than before because of the threat that the virus poses, but it has already started, and cannot be stopped until a cure is found. Unlike Ebola, AIDS was not detected as early as one would have hoped. The AIDS virus can stay dormant for over a decade before it is noticed as a real problem (Shenon 8). During that decade, the virus can spread like a wild fire. One person contracts the virus, transmits it to another, and another, and so on. As Shenon explains, AIDS became recognized as a real problem in the early seventies and was mostly concentrated in the United States and in Africa, but surprisingly it reached Asia a decade afterward. He goes on to explain that AIDS has spread exponentially in Asia. Thailand, recognized for its proliferation of prostitutes and illegal promotion of sex with children, could be held responsible for the tremendous outbreak of the virus in Asia, explains Shenon. He also points out that now that the virus has already broken out, Asia has the best AIDS prevention agenda in the world (8). For now the best prevention of AIDS that is available is education and protected sex. Until a cure is found for the ruthless virus, this is the only means of prevention that is available to the public. Ebola is one of the most rapidly fatal viruses on the planet and is believed to have begun somewhere in Zaire, Africa (Altman 3). There is no positive explanation as to how the virus is spread. When the virus is contracted by humans it causes hemorrhagic fevers and becomes extremely transmittable (A Case of Deadly Virus 4). Like the AIDS virus, Ebola has no cure. The only advantage of prevention that Ebola has over AIDS is that it does not stay dormant for decades therefore, it can be isolated much quicker. Being able to isolate the virus in one town or country makes the termination of it much easier. It seems inevitable that the two most deadly viruses in the world are contracted by the idea of self preservation. As stated earlier, AIDS is transmitted sexually, and Ebola is widely spread through the consumption of chimpanzee meat that is a common delicacy in Asia (A Case of Deadly Virus 4). Just as sex is an act that is very widespread all around the world, eating chimpanzee meat in Asia is som ething that is very common. It is very hard to stop the spread of a disease when it is spread by something that seems "second nature" to a person. The action that probably ultimately stopped the virus from spreading to neighboring countries is the fact that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the WHO (World Health Organization) were prompt to go the scenes of outbreak and begin studying the virus (A Case of Deadly Virus 4). When just one man became infected with the disease in the western Ivory Coast, the WHO were on the case to examine the problem (A Case of Deadly Virus 4). Unfortunately, the people that are trying to stop the spread of the virus and those who are close with the victims are those people that have the greatest chance of being infected (Altman 3). After a great deal of studying the ways that the virus is spread, it became evident that there are other ways to become

The Eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815

The Eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 The tremendous eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 was the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 19th century. The eruption and the tsunamis it triggered killed tens of thousands of people. The magnitude of the explosion itself is difficult to fathom. It has been estimated that Mount Tambora stood approximately 12,000 feet tall before the 1815 eruption when the top third of the mountain was completely obliterated. Adding to the disasters massive scale, the huge amount of dust blasted into the upper atmosphere by the Tambora eruption contributed to a bizarre and highly destructive weather event the following year. The year 1816 became known as ​the year without a summer. The disaster on the remote island of Sumbawa in the Indian Ocean has been overshadowed by the eruption of the volcano at Krakatoa decades later, partly because the news of Krakatoa traveled quickly via telegraph. Accounts of the Tambora eruption were considerably rarer, yet some vivid ones do exist. An administrator of the East India Company, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, who was serving as governor of Java at the time, published a striking account of the disaster based on written reports he had collected from English traders and military personnel. Beginnings of the Mount Tambora Disaster The island of Sumbawa, home to Mount Tambora, is located in present-day Indonesia. When the island was first discovered by Europeans, the mountain was thought to be an extinct volcano. However, about three years before the 1815 eruption, the mountain seemed to come to life. Rumblings were felt, and a dark smoky cloud appeared atop the summit. On April 5, 1815, the volcano began to erupt. British traders and explorers heard the sound and at first thought it to be the firing of cannon. There was a fear that a sea battle was being fought nearby. The Massive Eruption of Mount Tambora On the evening of April 10, 1815, the eruptions intensified, and a massive major eruption began to blow the volcano apart. Viewed from a settlement about 15 miles to the east, it seemed that three columns of flames shot into the sky. According to a witness on an island about 10 miles to the south, the entire mountain appeared to turn into liquid fire. Stones of pumice more than six inches in diameter began to rain down on neighboring islands. Violent winds propelled by the eruptions struck settlements like ​hurricanes, and some reports claimed that the wind and sound-triggered small earthquakes. Tsunamis emanating from the island of Tambora destroyed settlements on other islands, killing tens of thousands of people. Investigations by modern-day archaeologists have determined that an island culture on Sumbawa was completely wiped out by the Mount Tambora eruption. Written Reports of Mount Tamboras Eruption As the eruption of Mount Tambora occurred before communication by telegraph, accounts of the cataclysm were slow to reach Europe and North America. The British governor of Java, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, who was learning an enormous amount about the native inhabitants of the local islands while writing his 1817 book History of Java, collected accounts of the eruption. Raffles began his account of the Mount Tambora eruption by noting the confusion about the source of the initial sounds: The first explosions were heard on this Island in the evening of the 5th of April, they were noticed in every quarter, and continued at intervals until the following day. The noise was in the first instance almost universally attributed to distant cannon; so much so, that a detachment of troops were marched from Djocjocarta [a nearby province] in the expectation that a neighboring post was attacked. And along the coast boats were in two instances dispatched in quest of a supposed ship in distress. After the initial explosion was heard, Raffles said it was supposed that the eruption was no greater than other volcanic eruptions in that region. But he noted that on the evening of April 10 extremely loud explosions were heard and large amounts of dust began to fall from the sky. Other employees of the East India Company in the region were directed by Raffles to submit reports about the aftermath of the eruption. The accounts are chilling. One letter submitted to Raffles describes how, on the morning of April 12, 1815, no sunlight was visible at 9 a.m. on a nearby island. The sun had been entirely obscured by volcanic dust in the atmosphere. A letter from an Englishman on the island of Sumanap described how, on the afternoon of April 11, 1815, by four oclock it was necessary to light candles. It remained dark until the next afternoon. About two weeks after the eruption, a British officer sent to deliver rice to the island of Sumbawa made an inspection of the island. He reported seeing numerous corpses and widespread destruction. Local inhabitants were becoming ill, and many had already died of hunger. A local ruler, the Rajah of Saugar, gave his account of the cataclysm to British officer Lieutenant Owen Phillips. He described three columns of flames arising from the mountain when it erupted on April 10, 1815. Apparently describing the lava flow, the Rajah said the mountain started to appear like a body of liquid fire, extending itself in every direction. The Rajah also described the effect of the wind unleashed by the eruption: Between nine and ten p.m. ashes began to fall, and soon after a violent whirlwind ensued, which blew down nearly every house in the village of Saugar, carrying the tops and light parts along with it. I n the part of Saugar adjoining [Mount Tambora] its effects were much more violent, tearing up by the roots the largest trees and carrying them into the air together with men, houses, cattle, and whatever else came within its influence. This will account for the immense number of floating trees seen at sea. The sea rose nearly twelve feet higher than it had ever been known to be before, and completely spoiled the only small spots of rice lands in Saugar, sweeping away houses and every thing within its reach. Worldwide Effects of the Mount Tambora Eruption Though it would not be apparent for more than a century, the eruption of Mount Tambora contributed to one of the worst weather-related disasters of the 19th century. The following year, 1816, became known as the Year Without a Summer. The dust particles blasted into the upper atmosphere from Mount Tambora were carried by air currents and spread across the world. By the fall of 1815, eerily colored sunsets were being observed in London. And the following year the weather patterns in Europe and North America changed drastically. While the winter of 1815 and 1816 was fairly ordinary, the spring of 1816 turned odd. Temperatures did not rise as expected, and very cold temperatures persisted in some places well into the summer months. Widespread crop failures caused hunger and even famine in some places. The eruption of Mount Tambora thus may have caused widespread casualties on the opposite side of the world.