Comparison Between Two Epidemics Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay

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Comparison between Two Epidemics: Ebola and COVID-19
Since the world witnessed the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, there have been many threatening emerging diseases caused by viruses. While these viruses are spread through different modes and cause varying symptoms with different death rates, public health officials have built on previous experiences in addressing new and emerging pandemics such as coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Ebola virus disease (EVD) was first reported in 1976 and emerged as a deadly viral disease with a 50 percent mortality rate. By the time the pandemic ended, there were 28,000 reported cases globally. Comparatively, COVID-19 first appeared in December 2019, and by August 2020, there were 20.4 million cases with more than 700,000 deaths worldwide (World Health Organization). This paper discusses how the two epidemics have played different roles in the evolution of medical history and provides the contemporary state of the diseases.
EVD is one of the deadliest hemorrhagic fevers caused by Ebola virus that was first detected in 1976 in Central Africa. The disease outbreak first occurred in DRC Congo in a small village adjacent to the Ebola River. About 850 km away, another outbreak occurred in South Sudan and public health officials linked the movement of people between the two regions as a cause of transmission. However, it is now known that the two outbreaks were caused by genetically unrelated viruses classified as Zaire ebovirus and Sudan ebovirus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Genetic and epidemiological studies have suggested that the virus existed even before the first outbreaks. Direct human-wildlife interactions, human encroachment into the forest area, and growth in population have been blamed for the spread of the virus. Through the World Health Organization, the DRC government, and other players, the disease has been co...