Dealing With Disease in Uige, Angola
Journal Entry for April 21, 2005
Yesterday, Angola's Ministry of Health announced that there have been 266 documented human infections of the Marburg epidemic since the current outbreak began in October of last year. 244 of these cases have been fatal, providing a horrific mortality rate which can be attributed both to the largely unknown and uncontrollable nature of this disease, and the impoverished state of the nation it is afflicting.
Unfortunately, it took us five months from the first suspected cases of the outbreak to positively identify the cause as the Marburg virus. The region's medical facilities are severely overburdened and under-staffed due to the decades of civil war which have plagued Angola. So, when the epidemic began late last year early cases were mistaken for other more common diseases such as typhoid and malaria--which have similar symptoms to the Marburg virus.
On the first symptomatic day, an infected person suffers from an extremely high fever. The extent of this fever quickly drains the individual of energy, leaving them in a weakened state. By the third day extremely watery diarrhea has begun which will last for a week if the infected is lucky enough to survive so long. The diarrhea also comes with intense abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting. The result is a patient left in a state of dehydration and excruciating pain, weakened and unable to clean the contaminated fluids he or she is expelling. Now having faced days of extreme fever and fatigue, the person resembles a corpse with an expressionless face, deep-set eyes and total lack of energy. Between the fifth and seventh days hemorrhages appear on the body, often open to bleeding. Additional blood is excreted in the individual's vomit and feces, as well as from the nose, and gums. This prevalence of contaminated bodily fluids has been part of the reason why reason the epidemic has continued to spread despite our efforts to contain it. Death generally occurs within about two week of symptoms. There is no known cure, so the most our team can do for the infected is to keep their fluid levels high in order to counteract the effects of fever and diarrhea.
The Marburg epidemic is a RNA virus of the filovirus family--whose only other known members are the four Ebola viruses.
What would you say if I asked you to tell me what you think is causing the death of so many people in the horn of Africa? AIDS? Starvation? War? Would it surprise you if I told you that it all boils down to the women of Africa? Kofi Annan attempts to do just this in his essay “In Africa, Aids Has a Woman's Face.” Annan uses his work to tell us that women make up the “economic foundation of rural Africa” and the greatest way for Africa to thrive is through the women of Africa's freedom, power, and knowledge.
Nurses today are the backbone of the medical field. The knowledge that was required to become a nurse in the past would no longer be enough in the medical field today. Nurses in today’s society have a much more extensive knowledge in practicing medicine. Doctors rely heavily on nurses for assistance with many different tasks, such as taking a patient’s blood pressure to assisting during surgery. Although a nurse can qualify to do many different jobs within the medical field, there are some who specialize in a certain area. One area of specialty that many nurses go into is neonatal nursing. A neonatal nurse is a nurse that cares for premature infants. They work in the NICU, which is short for neonatal intensive care unit, within the hospital. To become a neonatal nurse one is required to have the necessary educational background, to be able to work in a hectic environment, and also to be able to have a flexible schedule. Neonatal nursing may not be for everyone, but it is a rewarding profession.
This disease may be on the brink of being eradicated entirely but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the grossest things that anyone has ever seen. The parasite enters the body via unsafe drinking water. When people drink water infected with water fleas that have have been hosting the larvae of the parasite. There are no symptoms, to begin with, but about one year later, blisters on the feet or legs begin to develop and then the adult fully developed worm crawls out of the host body over a period of a few weeks. It’s said that the pain is intense and can incapacitate a person for weeks at a time. The pain can also continue for months after the infection. The parasite needs to infect a person at least once a year in order to continue. There were an estimated 3.5 million cases in 1986 but the disease has been greatly reduced over time and only 22 cases were reported in 2015. This disease will probably be the first parasitic disease to be completely eradicated in humans.
The World Health Organization states that Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) was first apparent in 1967 in Germany, specifically in the Marburg and Frankfurt areas of Germany, hence the name, Marburg virus. The transporters of this disease were believed to have been monkeys from Uganda, and it is a very deadly and fatal disease in which the virus is similar in strain as the one that causes the Ebola virus. Although rare, MVD has the ability to be extremely deadly within an infected society. Outbreaks can prove to be dramatic and if not communicated within the proper societal channels, can be overwhelming to the human race. Outbreaks in history from the Marburg virus have been contained appropriately however, it is vital for health and protection agencies to collaborate in order to contain any future “accidental” or “man-made” outbreaks (World Health Organization, 2012).
Pediatric nurses do a lot of the same tasks as a regular nurse. They draw blood, check vital signs, can perform physical examinations, and order diagnostic tests. However, the job of a pediatric nurse goes beyond regular nurses. They must have a caring relationship not only with the patient they are tending to, but also the patient’s family. Parents usually prefer a pediatric nurse over a regular nurse due to the caring relationship they carry. This is well known by the nurses as the caring process. During this process the nurse must help the child and the child’s family step by step with anything they may need at the time. The pediatric nurse provides support, care, and information on how to prevent future problems. Pediatric nursing can be defined as “the practice of nursing with children, youth, and their families across the health continuum, including health promotion, illness management, and health restoration" (Barnsteiner et al). Therefore, you can see from that statement alone there is more than one job to be done by a pediatric nurse. A pediatric nurse can see anywhere from 80 to 100 children a day. They take appointments, walk-ins, and sometimes make home visits. Only when the pediatric nurse finds an abnormality will they refer and send the child t...
You take two years of your start up classes with two years of just nursing classes. A lot of hospitals require experience, like an internship for a year. After you go to a four year school and get your BSN there are many fields of specialties you can study ("Requirements to Be a Nurse in the U.S."). Some can include rehabilitation nursing, cardiovascular nursing, and my favorite, pediatric nursing ("Explore Specialties."). Pediatric nursing would be something I would highly consider for many reasons. I have nannied my whole life and am very good with kids. You need to have a lot of patientions with some playfulness when dealing with kids. They get scared and need someone to tell them that everything is going to be ok. What appeals to me the most is that I can watch my patients grow up to become young adults and see how much I have helped them through the years ("Explore
Have you ever gone to the doctor? and they ask you questions and they are talking to you in a room with your mom, have you ever wondered what these doctors are called?. Pediatric nursing is a worldwide profession in which they help. When you are a baby until you are eighteen. Pediatric nurses are the ones you're performing during a yearly exam until you're eighteen. Pediatric nurse works with children for immunizations, treating common illnesses and work closely with family doctors as well. Pediatric nurses also provide screenings and provide preventative care as well.
The study of Pediatrics began in the 1800's under the influence of Abraham Jacobi (Hockenberry, etal). Jacobi went on to open a childrens clinic in the New York Medical College. "Pediatrics became a separate discipline from obstetrics"(Pearson 2005). Since that time pediatric nursing has greatly advanced. The first children's hospital in the United States opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1855 with the purpose to decrease childhood mortality rates through research.
The Ebola virus and Marburg virus are the two known members of the Filovirus family. Marburg is a relative of the Ebola virus. The four strains of Ebola are Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Ebola Tai. Each one is named after the location where it was discovered. These filoviruses cause hemorrhagic fever, which is actually what kills victims of the Ebola virus. Hemorrhagic fever is defined as a group of viral aerosol infections, characterized by fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and respiratory symptoms. This is followed by capillary hemorrhages, and, in severe infection, kidney failure, hypotension, and, possibly, death. The incubation period for Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever ranges from 2-21 days. The blood fails to clot and patients may bleed from injection sites and into the gastrointestinal tract, skin and internal organs. Massive destruction of the liver is one distinct symptom of Ebola. This virus does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to do. It also requires bio-safety level four containment, the highest and most dangerous level. HIV the virus that causes AIDS requires only a bio-safety level of two. In reported outbreaks, 50%-90% of cases have been fatal.
The Ebola Haemorrahagic Fever, or Ebola for short, was first recognized as a virus in 1967. The first breakout that caused the Ebola virus to be recognized was in Zaire with 318 people infected and 280 killed. There are five subtypes of the Ebola virus, but only four of them affect humans. There are the Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast and the Ebola-Bundibugyo. The fifth one, the Ebola-Reston, only affects nonhuman primates. The Ebola-Zaire was recognized on August 26, 1976 with a 44 year old schoolteacher as the first reported case. The Ebola-Sudan virus was also recognized in 1976 and was thought to be that same as Ebola-Zaire and it is thought to have broken out in a cotton factory in the Sudan. The Ebola-Ivory Coast was first discovered in 1994 in chimpanzees in the Tia Forest in Africa. On November 24, 2007, the Ebola-Bundibugyo branch was discovered with an approximate total of 116 people infected in the first outbreak and 39 deaths. The Ebola-Reston is the only one of the five subtypes to not affect humans, only nonhuman primates. It first broke out in Reston, Virginia in 1989 among crab eating macaques.
Florence Nightingale emphasized the children’s nursing care needs in 1859. She wrote a book Notes on Nursing. A quote from her famous book is “The nursing of young children stands out as a division of our work needing special study. We have no branch that is more important.... Let us be willing to do anything which will accomplish the greatest good for the child, and honor our profession by becoming more and more efficient in our ability to care for sick children" (p 115). The first pediatric clinic opened in New York City in 1862. Originally these clinics focused on developing treatments for childhood diseases, such as measles and scarlet fever. Now the main purposes are check ups and doctor appointments Loretta Ford and Henry Sliver opened the first nurse practitioner training program in 1965. In training, the students studied 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for 1 to 2 years. After graduating from school, some students worked in hospitals, but most looked for private jobs in middle and upper class homes. The pay was poor and the hours were irregular.
In 1976 the first two Ebola outbreaks were recorded. In Zaire and western Sudan five hundred and fifty people reported the horrible disease. Of the five hundred and fifty reported three hundred and forty innocent people died. Again in 1995 Ebola reportedly broke out in Zaire, this time infecting over two hundred and killing one hundred and sixty. (Bib4, Musilam, 1)
“Fans have created such high expectations for athletes that success seems to require steroid use for any sport requiring speed, power or a combination of the two.” (Schmidt) Doping in sports is when athletes use enhancement drugs to try to improve their performance in their sport they are in. If athletes believe they need to improve their performance, they should be able to use PEDs. Doping in sports should not be considered a transgression; it should be used to help improve sports to make them better for the athlete. In the past, doping in sports wasn’t frowned upon.
Pediatric nursing did not develop in the United States until the nineteenth century. Most children were delivered with the help of midwives and cared for by their families, using folk medicine. Only the wealthy were attended by physicians, who were limited in what they could actually do for their patients. (mary)
In order to become a Pediatric nurse one must graduate from nursing school. Nursing school can be either at a college, university, or hospital; with either an Associates or bachelors degree in nursing (pncb.org). Then one must pass the exam which is called NCLEX to be a licensed registered nurse. Then he or she can go on to find a place to work, such as, a hospital clinic, doctors office, emergency room, private practice, or even a school