notes
Exercise 1: Human Behavior and The 1995 Ebola Outbreak In Zaire
1. In different cultures, people have different traditions. Most of which seem pretty harmless, unless a virus is introduced amongst the population. In the film, the Ebola virus was spread unintentional in 3 main ways: handshaking, burial rituals, and selling and eating infected animal meat. When people greet each other in Zaire, a handshake is usually the method that is used. However with the Ebola outbreak, handshaking spread the virus too easily amongst the community. It is also custom to have a special burial ritual for those who die. In this ritual, a lot of people tend to touch the dead corpse exposing everyone to the virus. Since the virus was originally hosted in fruit bats and was then passed on to chimpanzees, gorillas, antelope, and even porcupines. Many of the meat in Zaire is hunted down, most the meet they eat are gorillas and bat meat, spreading the virus even more.
2. In Zaire, two examples of “structural violence” playing a role in exposure to the virus are how people first reacted to the virus and how they began taking care of the ill. When Ebola first started infecting the Zaire people, many were not sure what was the cause. Naturally, they believed it was sorcery. As scientists began to act on the situation, people preferred to either continue believing it was sorcery, or go into complete denial about a deathly disease being the cause. After people realized that it was better to listen to the scientists, people began to change. However, they could not change too much due to their environmental and/or financial situation. People lived in small hut like houses that would hold several people, allowing for any kind of bacteria or virus to spread throughout the community. Scientist recommended isolating people from the sick as much as possible. The Zaire doctors decided to use the hospital for isolation, however, it was not big enough to hold all the infected people and the only
1. In different cultures, people have different traditions. Most of which seem pretty harmless, unless a virus is introduced amongst the population. In the film, the Ebola virus was spread unintentional in 3 main ways: handshaking, burial rituals, and selling and eating infected animal meat. When people greet each other in Zaire, a handshake is usually the method that is used. However with the Ebola outbreak, handshaking spread the virus too easily amongst the community. It is also custom to have a special burial ritual for those who die. In this ritual, a lot of people tend to touch the dead corpse exposing everyone to the virus. Since the virus was originally hosted in fruit bats and was then passed on to chimpanzees, gorillas, antelope, and even porcupines. Many of the meat in Zaire is hunted down, most the meet they eat are gorillas and bat meat, spreading the virus even more.
2. In Zaire, two examples of “structural violence” playing a role in exposure to the virus are how people first reacted to the virus and how they began taking care of the ill. When Ebola first started infecting the Zaire people, many were not sure what was the cause. Naturally, they believed it was sorcery. As scientists began to act on the situation, people preferred to either continue believing it was sorcery, or go into complete denial about a deathly disease being the cause. After people realized that it was better to listen to the scientists, people began to change. However, they could not change too much due to their environmental and/or financial situation. People lived in small hut like houses that would hold several people, allowing for any kind of bacteria or virus to spread throughout the community. Scientist recommended isolating people from the sick as much as possible. The Zaire doctors decided to use the hospital for isolation, however, it was not big enough to hold all the infected people and the only