Ever since I started to really listen to the news, I mean really listen and not just stare at the hot anchormen, I've come to the horrific realization that the world may just be ending. Too dramatic of a conclusion? Not at all!
The EBOLA EPIDEMIC
I feel like I'm intermingling this situation with my old thanatophobic habits. Usually when I start to feel sick or I'm just plain tired, I'll turn to good ole' reliable Google to help in figuring out what the hell might be wrong with me. No matter what my symptoms are, no matter how mild or severe, by the end of my Google research, I will be absolutely certain that I am dying. Does anyone else do this or am I the only weirdo who scares the crap out of herself by searching Google?
Anyways, moving on. Ebola. What is it? Answer? It's deadly. No seriously, the actual definition of Ebola is death. Nah I'm just playing, but Ebola has certainly caused a lot of controversy between the safety of mankind and the ancient traditions of burying the dead. But what if burying the dead is the root cause of more deaths? Burying a patient who has died of Ebola doesn't stop the virus, as a matter of fact, it is the culprit behind the current epidemic.
First of all, Ebola is a good actor. You'll experience a high fever at first, nausea and vomiting, stomach and chest pain, coughing, the usual icky stuff one can only experience when suffering from a bad seasonal flu. It could also be misdiagnosed as pneumonia or Marburg virus disease. But doctors can't miss Ebola when your eyes start to bleed, or ears, or nose, or your internal organs. But by the time your blood begins to lose it's ability to clot, enforcing internal bleeding, you're too far gone into the virus and it may very well be too late.
This is why it's so frightening, this Ebola Epidemic. It's a serial killer on the loose. We are currently living in what has been recorded as history's biggest most vicious Ebola outbreak, causing more than 4033 deaths with more than 8376 cases still pending. It all started with the death of an innocent tiny two-year old from West Africa. The human population in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone went downhill from there.
Two weeks ago, the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States was diagnosed. The patient died eight days later. Do you see the trend? Do you see how quick the virus killed him? Do you see why I define Ebola as death? The man DIED. EIGHT. DAYS. LATER. Ebola didn't even give the poor man time to contemplate how to live the last moments of his life. He goes into the hospital thinking he's got a flu or something, looking for maybe a couple of antibiotic pills, expecting to return to work the next morning, but instead of antibiotics, he's gifted death.
To make things worse, his family wasn't even allowed to bury him! His body was cremated and all the family had left to remember him by was his name and his medical history, which they will be using to sue the hospital for not paying closer attention to him and dismissing his earlier signs of Ebola.
Seeing this epidemic spread like wildfire gets me thinking; maybe the Mayans miscalculated and instead of the world ending in 2012, it was really supposed to be ending in 2014.
The EBOLA EPIDEMIC
I feel like I'm intermingling this situation with my old thanatophobic habits. Usually when I start to feel sick or I'm just plain tired, I'll turn to good ole' reliable Google to help in figuring out what the hell might be wrong with me. No matter what my symptoms are, no matter how mild or severe, by the end of my Google research, I will be absolutely certain that I am dying. Does anyone else do this or am I the only weirdo who scares the crap out of herself by searching Google?
Anyways, moving on. Ebola. What is it? Answer? It's deadly. No seriously, the actual definition of Ebola is death. Nah I'm just playing, but Ebola has certainly caused a lot of controversy between the safety of mankind and the ancient traditions of burying the dead. But what if burying the dead is the root cause of more deaths? Burying a patient who has died of Ebola doesn't stop the virus, as a matter of fact, it is the culprit behind the current epidemic.
First of all, Ebola is a good actor. You'll experience a high fever at first, nausea and vomiting, stomach and chest pain, coughing, the usual icky stuff one can only experience when suffering from a bad seasonal flu. It could also be misdiagnosed as pneumonia or Marburg virus disease. But doctors can't miss Ebola when your eyes start to bleed, or ears, or nose, or your internal organs. But by the time your blood begins to lose it's ability to clot, enforcing internal bleeding, you're too far gone into the virus and it may very well be too late.
This is why it's so frightening, this Ebola Epidemic. It's a serial killer on the loose. We are currently living in what has been recorded as history's biggest most vicious Ebola outbreak, causing more than 4033 deaths with more than 8376 cases still pending. It all started with the death of an innocent tiny two-year old from West Africa. The human population in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone went downhill from there.
Two weeks ago, the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States was diagnosed. The patient died eight days later. Do you see the trend? Do you see how quick the virus killed him? Do you see why I define Ebola as death? The man DIED. EIGHT. DAYS. LATER. Ebola didn't even give the poor man time to contemplate how to live the last moments of his life. He goes into the hospital thinking he's got a flu or something, looking for maybe a couple of antibiotic pills, expecting to return to work the next morning, but instead of antibiotics, he's gifted death.
To make things worse, his family wasn't even allowed to bury him! His body was cremated and all the family had left to remember him by was his name and his medical history, which they will be using to sue the hospital for not paying closer attention to him and dismissing his earlier signs of Ebola.
Seeing this epidemic spread like wildfire gets me thinking; maybe the Mayans miscalculated and instead of the world ending in 2012, it was really supposed to be ending in 2014.