Class blog for sharing and commenting on current events in biology.

Friday, April 10, 2015

The Path to Zero Ebola Cases

Peter Meyers
4/8/15
Core Bio D Odd
Current Event

The Path to Zero Ebola Cases


Kim, Jim Yong. "The Path to Zero Ebola Cases." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.


In the article “The Path to Zero Ebola Cases,” Jim Yong Kim discusses how the world must achieve the important task of destroying Ebola. The first step that everyone must take is helping Africa by sending them resources to treat the disease. Because Ebola is so contagious, every time a new case appears the hospital must treat everyone he or she came in contact with so handling just one Ebola case costs more than a million dollars. People must continue to contribute to this vital task no matter how costly. After this step we must trace the sources of Ebola and see how fast it is spreading through data. The fourth step requires national companies to conform to the differences of small towns. Ebola needs to be a focus in the world right now, big agencies that aid situations like this must concentrate on helping Ebola. If this happens then the number of Ebola traces could drop greatly. The fifth and final step to completely abolishing Ebola is that all countries need to work together with each other to stop it completely. Ebola is a devastating disease that must be completely eradicated. The author says that if these 5 steps are taken Ebola will be stopped completely.
This article is very relevant to me. Although there has not been an Ebola case in the US in quite a while, we are still very much at risk of it happening. It would be very easy for a traveller to get Ebola and come back to America and spread it. I, along with most Americans come into contact with hundreds of people every week. If Ebola were to come to the US again it could be very bad. I chose this article because 6 months ago I was terrified of Ebola but now I feel like it has worn off so I wanted to see where we were in battling the disease. If Ebola were eradicated tt would be a huge accomplishment for the entire world.

Kim Jim Yong’s article on Ebola was very well written. He had his opinions supported by facts, he uses statistics constantly, and he offered a great solution for the Ebola problem. Every time he offered his opinion it was supported by facts. This article was very eye opening for me. The only thing I didn’t like was the way this article was written for someone who already knew a solid amount about Ebola. He did not write much background he kind of just jumped right in and I have not been very up to date on this topic lately. Overall Yong wrote a very intriguing article.

6 comments:

  1. I read this article a while ago for a world current event and found it to be interesting and thought provoking. Therefore, one thing I thought you did well was pick an interesting, applicable article. Next, your summary paragraph was solid, giving good detail but omitting anything which is not wholly important to the central idea of the article. As a result, the review was succinct but not too long. Finally, your relevance paragraph was good because you were constantly connecting another outbreak of ebola, specifically one in the US, to our lives and how it would affect them.
    It was interesting that this man has laid the steps to stopping ebola for good in a reputable, widely read newspaper like the NY Times, yet many people haven't taken him up on his plan. I'd like to hear some counterarguments to his plan, because it seems pretty sound and well thought out. Also, I thought it was interesting that months, even years after the worst ebola outbreak in Africa, we are still talking about this deadly disease. As scary as this may be, it's also sort of cool that a virus like this can survive for as long as it has, even with all the people and resources being used to stop it.
    One thing I would suggest is incorporating quotes into your summary paragraph to back up some of your points. This would add direct article backing to your review. Overall though, you did a great job Pete!

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  2. This current event is very well written due to various aspects. You did a very good job explaining the 5 different steps needed to abolish Ebola in your summary paragraph. Your relevance paragraph was very interesting to read because Ebola for a good amount of time was a huge threat to the country we live in and you did a nice job explaining how if it came back it could affect us again. You need a good job explaining at the end how the article was meant for someone who has probably studied Ebola and so it was probably harder for you to understand.
    Because Ebola was such a threat to where we lived we heard about it a lot. I thought I knew a lot about it but I learned some new facts.I never thought about how expensive Ebola was because you have to treat everyone who was previously in contact with the patient. You need a nice job emphasizing the fact that it is expensive to abolish Ebola. Ebola doesn't seem prevalent to us anymore, however, it really is because to get rid of it all countries need to work together, as you did a nice job emphasizing.
    I really enjoyed reading your current event. One suggestion I would make would be to add some statistics to show the severity of how many people Ebola's killed in Africa or many show how many people have survived the virus. Other than that, very nice job Pete!!!!!

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  3. comment #1
    There were many things presented well in this current event. One aspect presented well were the steps needed to stop the spread of ebola. Another aspect presented well was your relevance paragraph. I thought this was presented well because 6 months ago I was also terrified of ebola. The final aspect that was presented well was your criticism of the author and how he presented his opinion with facts.
    I learned many things from this article. One thing I learned was how costly it is to treat a case of ebola. The second thing I learned was that five steps can completely eradicate ebola.
    One thing that could be improved would be including some of the facts that the author used in the article. Beside this, I thought you did a great job.

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  4. Great review! I enjoyed every sentence of your review mainly because of both the topic and how you wrote about your topic. Ebola is a major plague that is infecting thousands and only by raising more awareness will we be able to stop it. Also, It was great that you described the symptoms and the severity of Ebola. Many months ago when this was the major hit in the news, I didn't know what contributed to Ebola or how lethal it truly was. Even now I learned some new things that I didn't already! For instance how expensive and hard it is to provide care and treatment with those suffering from the illness. The only thing I would recommend you do in the future is add a little more opinion. Like so many others on this blog, your opinion is only condensed into your 2nd paragraph; maybe add it to other places? Again, great job!

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  5. I chose to comment on Peter Meyer’s review of “The path to Zero Ebola Cases” by Jim Yong Kim. One thing that I enjoyed about Peter’s review was how he logically presented his information. The clear presentation of the material was conducive to my understanding of the steps to stop the ebola outbreak. Moreover, Peter’s summary of the article effectively presented all of the author’s major points in a succinct way that did not lose the reader along the way. Furthermore, I appreciate how Peter created an honest and thoughtful critique of the article. The critique adds to my understanding of the article because it supplements my understanding of ebola, as well as the authors writing style. Finally, Peter’s great use of vocabulary and good punctuation made his review more enjoyable to read. Though much of Peter’s report was very good, there are a couple things he could improve upon. First of all, he could include some more background to the Ebola virus. Occasionally I was confused because I did not have a full understanding of the disease itself, particularly the disease before it became an epidemic. Additionally, he could expand on his personal connection to the article and the implications the subject may have on his life. I learned many things from Peter’s review, but one thing that stood out to me was that the cost to treat one patient and all of his contacts was more than $1 million. The five step plan which Peter presented in his summary was also very interesting, particularly how he stressed the importance of identifying the source of ebola and tracking the methods in which it spreads and how quickly. Overall, Peter did a great job with all parts of his analysis and I learned a lot about the evolution of ebola, particularly now that has disappeared from the front page of newspapers.


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  6. Comment from Grayson Elder:

    I thought that this current event report was written very well. For example, you did a really good job picking an intresting article, that the reader found intresting and was easy to read and understand. I also think you did a great job explaining the steps needed in order to get rid of ebola, like Lucy said. Lastly, I think you did a great job with your relevance paragraph, you related it to today nicely, and looked at the fact that we had a major ebola outbreak. I learned a lot of new things about ebola by reading this report. For example, I learned that it is very costly to try and get rid of ebola. One thing I think that could have been done to the report is put a direct quote from the article, or add a few statistics about ebola. Other than that, you did a really nice job!

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