Nearly Halted in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes Comeback by Sea

Allegra Alfano Biology

Current Event 2/28/15

Fink, Sheri. "Nearly Halted in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes Comeback by Sea." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/world/africa/nearly-beaten-in-sierra-leone-ebola-makes-a-comeback-by-sea.html?ref=science&_r=0>.

Nearly Halted in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes Comeback by Sea by Sheri Fink is about the new resurgence of Ebola in Sierra Leone. The original outbreak of Ebola in Africa seemed to simmering down, and many restrictions on travel were being lifted, and children were returning to school. In February Ebola came back, this time from fishermen. After the number of newly infected people went down sharply, people thought that Ebola might be going away. Many other diseases like measles, and polio have had resurgences after doctors and scientists thought they had been eradicated. Dr. William Foege believes that there are still many more surprises that Ebola has in store. Even the president of Sierra Leone, Samuel Sam-Sumana,  has put himself under quarantine after one of his guards caught the disease. The fishermen landed at the Tamba Kula wharf in Freetown. Tamba Kula is a settlement that is made mostly of metal, and wood shanties. Two dozen people in Tamba Kula have contracted Ebola. They have all been workers in the fishing industry: fishermen, deck hands, and people who sell the fish. Three possible reasons for the spread of Ebola in the wharfs are; shared toilets, delayed reporting of contraction of Ebola, and the fact that many fishermen that might of had Ebola just went out to sea when quarantines were being put in place. Many families are also hiding their sick relatives, and when people are caught with Ebola they often try to run. In February, Abass Koroma, a man from Tamba Kula, lost his wife to Ebola and when he started to get sick he took a taxi to his hometown and ended up infected up to 42 people in his community. Although not in the news Ebola is still a major problem in Western Africa.

The Ebola outbreak has a huge impact on people’s lives in West Africa. The governments in Africa are not equipped to handle a disease like this, which makes it very easy to spread. If Ebola was in a developed country it would have been eradicated and would not be a problem anymore. Since, people in Sierra Leone have not been cooperative with their government by not obeying travel restrictions and quarantine rules, the effects of Ebola are greater. In order to get rid of Ebola for good the people who get it have to go to a hospital and limit contact with humans. The fact that fishermen who knew they might have Ebola went out on their ships and then contaminated many other people shows that the people who have Ebola are not taking it as seriously as it should be taken.

The article is well written and easy to understand. You do not need to have much prior knowledge to know what the author is talking about. The source, The New York Times,  is credible and reliable. It was interesting to see how the Ebola outbreak has progress because news stations have stopped talking about it on their programs. It shocks me that even though the people in Sierra Leone know very well what Ebola does to a person, they do not think about what the right thing to do is when they contract it.