A careless choice made by one person can certainly impact the society as a whole in such ways that can be life-changing. No one in the world could have even dreamt of encountering with Ebola, a lethal and deadly virus, with a mortality rate similar to that of the infamous Black Death during the Middle ages which wiped out a third of the world’s population. However, destiny proved them wrong, for Ebola became an explosive topic worldwide with its highly contagious nature. Furthermore, because of its vagueness in modern science, many people carried and transmitted the disease without knowledge of doing so themselves. In the novel, The Hot Zone, Richard Preston describes the horrid consequences that manifested as a result of the inadvertent decisions …show more content…
In the beginning, a schoolteacher was said to have visited a roadside market and bought fresh antelope meat, that was placed alongside with a freshly killed monkey bought by his friend. He then began to feel sick after consuming the meat that his wife cooked and went to Yambuku hospital for a medicine injection afterwards. However, an ominous event was about to take place when the author mentioned, “At the beginning of each day, the nuns at Yambuku Hospital would lay out five hypodermic syringes on a table, and they would use them to give shots to patients all day long.” (Preston 102). This is a significant issue which assisted the spread of the virus, as the schoolteacher broke out with Ebola and became the first known case of Ebola Zaire. Perhaps he himself contracted the virus, but chances are that other people who came to get shots before him could have also potentially harbor the virus, and therefore, transmitted the disease to him through blood contact from the used needles. This could be a possibility because the author wrote,“The nuns and staff occasionally rinsed the
The readers are then introduced to the Ebola Sudan case in which Mr.
Nancy Jaax almost became infected when she tore her space suit while performing an autopsy on an infected monkey. Luckily she didn’t, but danger can happen around any corner. Even though Doctors new a lot about Ebola it was still very scary and unpredictable to work on. The beginning of the book gives the reader a very description of what Ebola is and does to its unlucky victims. “Ebola the slate wiper, did things to people that you do not want to think about.
In the Hot Zone, Richard Preston demonstrates how devastating Ebola and other filoviruses can be to large populations. In the book, Preston describes true events during an outbreak of Ebola virus at a Monkey facility in Reston, Virginia in 1980. He also gives background from other viral outbreaks in Africa in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
(Gladwell, 14). From this would have to “[...] reframe the way we think about the world.” (Gladwell, 257). This information helps the author with their purpose, specifically with the second part of the purpose, the question “[...] what can we do to deliberately start and control positive epidemics of our own?” (Gladwell, 14).
Gladwell did an exceptional job by getting his point across. This entire book shows the three main factors of spreading an epidemic. The law of the few with the Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen; the Stickiness factor that deals with the content of the message; and the power of context, which explains how important the environment and surroundings are in an epidemic. For each of these factors, there are many examples clearly supporting how they are vital to spreading the epidemic. Each of these examples powerfully describe how important that surrounding are.
The perception that “little things can make a big difference” motivated this reader to study Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”. As a future advanced practice nurse, considering all options regarding quality care and safety for patients, whether big or small, can mean the difference between a healthy life or one that is limited. Intrigued by his metaphorical language, Gladwell compares variations to contagions and explains how ideas, manufactured goods, trends, and behaviors can thrive and grow like viruses as soon as it reaches its “Tipping Point”. Questions are scattered throughout this book, encouraging the reader to reflect and apply this same concept to personal circumstances.
“Bring out your dead.” In 1793 Yellow Fever wiped out almost all of the population of Philadelphia. I, Ida Brown, sister of Clara and Elizabeth Brown, am a fever specialist in Philadelphia trying to cure this apocalyptic epidemic. We three were sent by King George III here, his orders. The French doctors just arrived from Haiti.
The Tipping Point by New York Times bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell explores the importance of small factors and events and their effect on major epidemics and ideas. Gladwell utilizes his knowledge of social psychology and illustrates the complete range of factors that spark modern epidemics. Gladwell’s ability to analyze social phenomena through an unprejudiced view point combined with thoroughly enhancing cases make this novel a compelling read. Applying his interest and studies of social trends, Gladwell centers his award winning novel around the mechanisms of triggering social epidemics, focusing on how the irrelevant details make a dramatic difference. His arguments are governed by three agents of change called the Law of the Few,
“We were in the center of a dying city.” That was the thought of millions of yellow fever victims during the devastating outbreak of 1793. This disaster is the focus of the nonfiction text “An American Plague.” The text is about a young woman, Catherine LeMaige, who lost her life to yellow fever, although her doctors did all they could. After recounting the symptoms, they concluded Catherine had contracted yellow fever, and was one of the earliest victims.
In 1793 a fever infected Philadelphia that killed 10% of its population. The book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is a historical fiction from a young girl named Matilda’s perspective. The book is about her experience dealing with the Yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. She learned many lessons and one of them was that fear can control you. Some of the reasons fear can control you is how it can make you leave what you know, it can make you turn on people, and it can make you vulnerable.
The American-French Doctors in Philadelphia, 1793, tried to treat yellow fever. Foreign ships brought the deadly infected mosquitoes to America. People got this disease by blood to blood contact, which is when an infected mosquito bites someone, and then bites another. Now, because of this blood to blood contact, over 4000 people died. So now, let 's get to the facts.
Nobody knew how the epidemic had started.”. Mr. Chiu was wrongfully accused of causing a disturbance while waiting for a train to take him and his bride back home from their honeymoon. When he was released from the police’s horrid
The book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, looks at how small choices can impact big ones. It explains how society changes very rapidly and very unexpectedly. “The tipping point is the biography of an idea.” When one person in Baltimore has Syphilis it is then passed on to other humans who are then infected as well. Before you know it you have an entire city infected with Syphilis, this is called the tipping point.
The widespread contamination of an infectious disease have been either contained, or eliminated with the use vaccines. For example smallpox was one of these infectious disease which practically exterminated populations by just the exposure. Although smallpox has been infecting many civilization, the effects on the indigenous population of the South and North Americas was one of the worse outbreaks, it reduced the population about “90 percent, a blow far greater than any defeat in battle” (Greenspan, 2015). In 1769 Edward Jenner developed the first ever successful vaccine after learning of a tale that dairymaids were unable to contract smallpox after suffering from cowpox, he began experimenting by transmitting cowpox to a young boy, and after
As their next-door-neighbors begin dying, two men are driven to action: Reverend Henry Whitehead, whose faith in a benevolent God is great, and Dr. John Snow, whose beliefs about contagion have been rejected by the scientific community, but who is convinced that he knows how the disease is had spread. “The Ghost Map” records the