As the Ebola virus outbreak continues to spread across West Africa, Rowan hosted a lecture to inform the students and staff about the facts and myths of the virus.
Dr. Matthew Laurens, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and Dr. Olukunle Owolabi, a political science professor at Villanova University, discussed the origins of the virus and how it spread so quickly.
Laurens said this is the largest outbreak of Ebola in history. As of Sept. 30, there have been 7,470 confirmed cases of Ebola and 3,431 recorded deaths, but the actual death tolls may be twice as high.
"It's really hard to say because accurate diagnosis is lacking, and these are just estimates based on known cases," he said.
While the virus was first discovered in 1976, the first case of the current outbreak occurred last December in Guinea and spread through other West African countries. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are the countries being hit hardest by the virus.
The outbreak occurred in urban areas allowing the virus to spread faster, Laurens said. Ebola is spread person-to-person through direct contact with the body fluids of the infected person including broken skin and mucous membranes. Ebola cannot be spread through air or water.
The customs practiced during funerals in many West African countries put people at high risk to catch the virus. During a traditional burial ceremony the body is never left alone, so if that person died of Ebola their bodily fluids can still transmit the virus. The body is then placed into the ground in a peaceful setting, and in some areas, the body is buried inside the home.
"However, with the advent of Ebola we have people dying in their homes and we don't have this peaceful large community gathering to celebrate a death," Laurens said. "We have men coming in in these crazy white suits, with these goggles on covered in respiratory equipment, spraying them, putting your loved one in a sack basically and carrying them off in a truck."
This has created a challenge for many healthcare workers who must now find culturally sensitive approaches while trying to contain the epidemic.
When a person is infected with Ebola the virus has an eight to 10 day incubation period. Laurens said there's no evidence that people are contagious during that time. People then begin to develop flu-like symptoms such as a fever, chills, nausea and abdominal pain. Around day five to day seven, a hemorrhagic rash appears on the victims.
The rash is caused from the virus attacking the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels. The virus causes the cells to lose their function, and blood then leaks inside body tissue and externally.
Laurens said Ebola has a 60 percent fatality rate, with most people dying after a week.
Earlier research suggested monkeys were the carriers, but researchers now believe it started with bats. The bats are not affected by the virus, but they can spread it to humans directly or through an infected animal that people then kill and eat.
There is no cure for Ebola, and scientists are still experimenting to find an effective vaccine. Aid workers treat people based on their symptoms, which include maintaining the victims' oxygen levels and blood pressure as well as setting up IVs to balance their electrolytes.
Owolabi said that despite many Americans believing all of Africa is infected with Ebola, some countries managed to contain the virus and other countries do not have it at all.
Both Owolabi and Laurens briefly touched on why the United States and other world leaders were slow to respond to the outbreak.
"The first case was last December, and it wasn't recognized as such until March," Owolabi said. "The international community didn't really get going on this until the end of July."
There was a lack of coordination between the World Health Organization, the United States government and the West African countries which Owolabi said slowed down early efforts to contain the virus.
Michael Wootton, a junior history major, attended the lecture to learn more about the epidemic.
"It's a global issue and it has real-world consequences," he said. "Learning about the virus and the countries it's prevalent in is important to understanding why it's spreading."
Katrinka Somdahl-Sands, a political science professor and the New Jersey Geographical Alliance coordinator, said the Ebola virus highlights a gap in geographical education. Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, and she said many students know very little about it.
"There needs to be more of a balance in education so students aren't only taught about Europe," she said.
As researchers and health workers fight to contain the situation in West Africa, Somdahl-Sands said no one in America needs to panic about the virus.
