Alexis Meglio
Instructor Munoz
English 1301
12 November 2014 Argumentative Essay: El Paso prepares for Ebola
The most deadly killers on this earth are too small to see with the naked eye. These microscopic predators are viruses. Ebola virus is now in the United States and maybe even in my community. My claim is to find out what my community, Fort bliss hospitals and local hospitals are doing in case of an outbreak.
The Ebola virus is a deadly disease that appeared in Africa during the 1970s. The virus causes massive bleeding and destroys the internal tissues of the victim. The virus is named after the Ebola River Valley in Zarie now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa were the virus was first found. Three types of the Ebola virus have been found in Africa mainly in central Africa. The strain Ebola Zarie is the most deadly of the three. In March 2014, West Africa suffered from the most deadly epidemic disease, Ebola since it was discovered in 1976. The disease is growing exponentially in West Africa. The often fatal Ebola disease has no medical vaccine to cure the disease. In a world knit together by planes, ships and cargo ships, failure to control Ebola in West Africa means more cases in other countries including America. As travelling is rapid in today’s world Ebola virus can definitely travel from one country to another.
Ebola is taking different unknown routes to cross the border of new countries. As fear of spreading is getting higher international community is steeping up to provide medical help and other assistance to combat this disease. In my community local hospitals and army base Fort bliss get prepared in case of an outbreak. We do have an international airport here; we are right on the border, so travel from outside the country occurs with many visitors coming from other parts of the world. Not to mention another reason for being prepared is the deployment of soldiers from Fort bliss to West Africa. Troops from Fort Bliss will be isolated for twenty-one days after their return from West Africa. They will be housed in barracks separated from the rest of the army post. They will be quarantined at Fort bliss and monitored to keep the spread of the deadly virus. “We are fully equipped, trained and prepared to receive these service members,” said Lt. Col. Lee Peters, a spokesman from Fort Bliss. I am a military dependent and I’ve been to Fort bliss recently I had a doctor’s appointment, since I was there I went ahead and interviewed my nurse practioner, he’s name is Jonathan Adin Sinnott NP ,but before I did I had noticed he asked me some questions before my checkup. The questions he asked were new to me since the last time I had been there. He asked “Have you been in contact with anyone with the Virus Ebola in the last 30 days?” the next question he asked was, “Have you been out of the country mainly to West Africa in the past months? He had never asked me these questions before so I went ahead and asked him some questions as well since I am currently majoring in nursing and I needed some knowledge, something new to learn. He had said they have been training and doing different things then normally, everyone on post had been getting ready in case of an outbreak. El Paso and Fort bliss is one of the 20 quarantine stations for infectious diseases. I have seen the barracks it is isolated from others no one can go over there. There are army tents around and they are in quarantine.
In local news, El Paso times had just recently came out with an article, ‘El Paso is ready for Ebola, local hospitals prepare.” “ The City of El Paso department of public health is working closely with local, state and federal authorities to assure that the many health partners throughout our region are current and coordinated in their efforts to protect the public from all types of infectious diseases which may reach our city”, according to a city health department news release. Ebola can easily transmit