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Opinion
Tuesday, October 31, 2000
For comments, contact Ben Voosen Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
Perspective Ebola outbreak raises specter of new pandemic
How would you feel about sleeping next to a body bag, observing your family and friends being hauled off in bags similar to your own and not knowing when you might be strenched with the same fate? This ominous sign of death has been handed to patients in Uganda for the past several weeks, all of them suffering from the effects of the Ebola virus — nearly 60 are dead and 150 infected. It takes only one undetected case to cross into another country for a pandemic to start.
Ebola is arguably the deadliest virus known to humans. Nearly 90 percent of those that contract Ebola and its related filoviruses do not survive the infection. The disease the virus causes is well known as having the most visually graphic and painful symptoms. Ebola causes an illness in its victims that initially seems
In prior outbreaks of Ebola, many of the patients have been diagnosed with malaria, so they were never isolated from other patients or hospital staff. As soon as the symptoms worsen, it is too late for nearly everyone who has come into contact with that patient.
The virus progresses rapidly from the cold-like symptoms to a painful hemorrhagic fever in which blood begins oozing out of body orifices and even through the skin. Some physicians have described the effects of the virus as the "chaotic melting of the body's internal organs." Clearly, Ebola is a virus that the human race does not want to confront on a global scale.
To put in perspective what a pandemic would be like today, we must look back to the influenza outbreak from early 1918. Nearly one quarter of the world's population became infected with the virus, which was first diagnosed right here in Kansas. Within weeks, the entire world felt the effects of the outbreak and, by the end of 1918, nearly 30 million people had died. Antibiotic medicine was in its infancy then, yet we survived, largely because of the "disappearance" of the virus 18 months later. Now consider the highly infectious and more deadly Ebola virus and the unfortunate killing potential it could have on a global scale, when nine out of 10 infected will succumb its symptoms.
Corey
Snyder
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
In modern society, with increased knowledge and technological potential to fight diseases, we do have a hope of isolating and solving the mysteries of Ebola. However, many experts feel the odds are for us to be at a greater risk for a pandemic than finding a cure. With international flights carrying more people every year to new and previously isolated parts of the world, transmission of a virus such as Ebola is not hard to imagine. In fact, a strain of Ebola carried in monkeys imported from the Philippines was found in the United States in 1989. Fortunately, it was contained before any such epidemic could occur.
The Red Cross and World Health Organization fear that the problem with infectious control could continue to grow without proper education. The recent Ebola outbreak is an excellent example of how a local, isolated case can spread to neighboring towns quickly.
When doctors initially isolated Ebola in Uganda, several traveling workers already had been infected after attending the funeral of the first victim. The culture's funerals consist of washing the dead body before burial. This unfortunately spread the virus to many at the funeral. Even with the symptoms of the virus being expressed quickly in those infected, the guests at the funeral were long on their way to other towns in Uganda.
Lack of education, along with cultural differences, has made treatings this outbreak difficult. Many local villagers believe that the "spirits" are upset with them and do not believe in anything such as a virus.
It must be the policy of the United States and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as an important concern for people around the globe, that research dollars and precautions be taken the instant a deadly virus develops. Also, hot zones around the world must be further examined to determine the exact causes of the strains of Ebola. Ignoring the problem for too long will have lasting repercussions for our generation.
TMS CAMPUS
Snyder is a Topeka senior in pre-physical therapy.
By the Numbers
-39 Percentage change since the end of the Cold War in the number of U.S. Army troops
$17 M
Amount Worth The United States
Amount of United States
proposed charging the
United Nations last May to
fly a battalion of peace-
offers to Gaza.
Keepers into Sierra Leone
$5M Estimated amount it would cost to fly in a battalion via
commercial airline
Minimum number of new bacteria species discovered to exist in the human mouth last year
Source: Harper's.org
Perspective
U.S. backing of Israel needs to have limits
When I read that PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had declared that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak should go to hell, I was shocked. Nobody seeking peace should say anything close to that
at least in public. But why did he do it?
at least in public. But why did he do it? Both groups want the same thing — and they are not willing to share it. They want to control the city that is sacred to both of them. I admit that this is a very simple way of looking at the matter, even though I see politics as the art of making difficult things seem, and be, very simple.
The United States has been pushing meetings since President Clinton won the U.S. presidential election in 1992, hoping to reach an agreement between both sides. Since the Oslo Agreements in 1993, we saw many historic moments. They include the handshake between Yitzak Rabin and Ariel Sharon, and the Nobel
Cássio Furtado columnist opinion@kansan.com
After Rabin's death in 1995, the peace process started to go down the tubes. Rabin seemed to be an extremely reasonable individual, and his death was harmful to the future of peaceful negotiations. After his death, we have seen leaders such as Benjamin Netanyahu, who was a constant threat to peace, and now Barak, whose recent actions save me the effort of writing about him.
We all know that the United States backs Israel unconditionally and that any agreement is OK to the U.S. government as long as the Arabs bend their knees to the continuous
Peace Prize they received in 1994. But were they meaningful to the peace process?
succession of aggressions from Israel.
But now I see the U.S. media claiming that Arafat is not a good leader. Suppose that your people are being oppressed and that the organization you are the chair of is fighting for worldwide recognition. That seems difficult already, doesn't it?
But on the top of this, the world's greatest political and military power is on your enemy's side. However, even with all that, you are still able to control that people for years and years. Does that make you a bad leader?
What makes me say this is the fact that I analyze this entire situation from the outside. Even though I am certainly not an expert in Middle Eastern politics, I am impartial. I do not have a side on this issue. I only want both groups to be respected, as they should. Lives can be saved if both sides can get together with an impartial mediator.
The United States is biased regarding this matter. Foreign relations — specifically with Israel — interferes so much with internal politics that it is impossible to have a fair peace process brokered by the United States.
I know that the United States will continue to back Israel, and that's OK. Every country has the right to define its allies and to stand by them when that's necessary. But this cannot be unconditional. Limits need to be defined so that both sides can live together. I still believe that there are means of avoiding a long war in the Middle East — and, as always, most of them come from the United States.
Most countries in the region have condemned Israel's recent actions. But is all that worth anything if the United States keeps protecting Israel in spite of its actions?
Wouldn't permanent peace be the best way to back Israel?
The next president needs to make sure that its ally is well served.
Furtado in a Pelotas, Brazil, senior in political science and journalism
Editorial
Band's move energizes team,fans
The football team, fans and KU Band will benefit from band's relocation.
The University of Kansas Athletics Department made a commendable decision last week in response to concerns from students and other fans of the Kansas Jayhawk football team. It decided to move the Marching Jayhawks back into the student section. This was in quick response to concerns expressed by the students, alumni members of the Marching Jayhawks and even Terry Allen himself. This move was an excellent decision made by the department to provide an answer to growing concern.
At the beginning of last season, the Marching Jayhawks were moved from next to the student section to the north bowl of Memorial Stadium to provide the majority of the stadium with the most amount of sound possible from the band. Since then, students, alumni and fans who attended the games complained that it was more difficult to hear the band in the new seats because it was too far away. Now, the band has been moved into the middle of the student section for the remainder of the season.
The concern was sparked by the game this season against K.State. The KU Marching Band was sitting in the north bowl in the midst of a solid purple mess. The KState band was seated on the south end of the stadium, and the students and fans could hear it better than the KU band. In most Big 12 schools and across the country, marching bands have traditionally been placed in the student sections right behind the opposing teams to distract them. Now, this is finally the case once again at the University.
The decision to move the Marching Jayhawks was well deserved and needed. The band now will be playing to the students, alumni and fans of the University. This will increase the involvement of the students and fans in the game and hopefully help bring the atmosphere in Memorial Stadium to an all-time high. If the atmosphere in Memorial Stadium is outstanding, it can do nothing but help to win more football games.
Brett Norman for the editorial board
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com.
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They need to close down a block of Mass. Street so that on Halloween, we can party.
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Did we buy McCollum at a garage sale?
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This World Series deal is way out of control. The U.S should focus on other issues.
For once I'd like to hear a kid from the dorm not complain about the buses or what's to eat at Mrs. E's.
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Jokes about Bill Gates aren't cool.
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The only bowl game the KU football team will be going to will be the toilet bowl.
Is it really the end of the world if a greek dates a nongreek? Why does it have to be dominated that way?
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The citizens of Kansas, along with the KU Athletics Department, the KU administration and the cowardly District Attorney's office must be proud to have upheld the traditional Kansas family's moral values when they casted their vote in favor of the rapists on the football team. What an absolute sham, shame and embarrassment you bring to this campus, this city and the state.
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Roy Williams has done a lot for this city, and he runs one of the most respectable and clean basketball programs in the nation.
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I fear for the nation's working class if Gov. Bush is elected.
I think it's a disgrace that our football team is a breeding ground for sexual predators.
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We need a privatization of Social Security. Otherwise, we won't see any of it.
Whoever said Roy Williams is just a basketball coach obviously hasn't ever watched basketball and isn't from Kansas.
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