​Joseph Daly

          I attended this Discussion panel because, at the time of this event, I was working on a paper in international relations where I advise the CDC on how to help prevent the spread of Ebola in West

The first speaker, Dr. Paul Psychas M.D, presented general information about Ebola so that the audience could better understand the seriousness of the disease, how its spreads and how it ca be contained. Dr. Psychas explained how Ebola is zoonotic and is thought to originate in bats but is transferable to primates, like chimpanzees and humans. The current Ebola outbreak has originated from the forest region of Guinea in December 2012 and since then has rapidly affected more people. The virus is thought to be transferred to humans from infected primates. There is no known treatment for Ebola and the best that we can do is provide supportive care, treating the symptoms, and quarantine the patient to prevent the spread of the disease. The mortality rate for the virus decreases from 90% to 50% if it is caught early and the infected individual can receive supportive therapy. The virus is only transmitted through contact with bodily fluids.

     The next speaker was Sharon Abramowitz. Abramowitz gave information about the culture of the infected countries and problems that they are facing with containing the virus. Abramowitz spoke about how traditional healing is used to try to treat Ebola but it isn't effective in stopping the spread of the virus. Because of the poor medical knowledge and lack of communication, those in the area believe false information about Ebola treatment, like drinking salt water will cure you or eating an onion will prevent you from catching Ebola. She also addressed how we need to step up and help contain the virus because right now we are only advising the countries on how to stop the spread of the virus and not doing a lot to actually help stop the spread.

     The following speaker was Dr. Timothy Nevin P.H.D. Dr. Nevin spoke about cultural aspects of West Africa that helped the virus spread faster. Some cultural greeting involving bodily contact are what has contributed to the spread of the virus. He also spoke about the lack of trust that the citizens have in the government to help stop Ebola. As an example he told us how the locals in Liberia refer to the JFK hospital as the “Just For Killing” hospital because they believe it does more harm than good. According to Dr. Nevin there is also misinformation about Ebola. It is being diagnosed as malaria and people are using non-safe methods to move dead bodies, increasing the rate at which the disease spreads.

     The last Speaker was Jill Sonke. She spoke about how art can be used to give people information about Ebola. Because the government is not trusted in many of these countries, local artists are being used to create songs and murals to help educate the population about Ebola.

     Overall I found the panel discussion to be very informative. I learned a lot about the problems some of the countries in West Africa are facing to combat the spread of Ebola.