As a librarian, I have been monitoring the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa from an information and learning perspective. In my study on the topic, I discovered some interesting resources. Here they are, and why they are so cool: REFERENCE Agyepong, I. A. (2014). A systems view and lessons from the ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa. _Ghana Medical Journal_, _48_(3), 168-172. doi:10.4314/gmj.v48i3.10 QUICK LINK ajol.info/index.php/gmj/article/view/107945 RELEVANCE This article highlights the paradox of EVD’s transmission type—direct contact with an infected person, objects contaminated with fluids from infected persons, or the remains of infected people who have died, which is typically less infectious than airborne transmission—and its unexpectedly high rate of infection. Despite a complete lack of scientific evidence of airborne human transmission of the disease in its 40-year history, this paradox has led many to speculate on the possibility that EVD is airborne. Agyepong (2014) argues that the cause of high infection rates has more to do with economic and political instability in these countries. Agyepong (2014) urges Ghana and its international partners to invest in health systems, such as surveillance, preparedness, and water and sanitation, to combat this and future infectious diseases. CREDIBILITY This article was peer-reviewed and published in the _Ghana Medical Journal_, which was established in 1962 and is active in the African and international medical community. ############## REFERENCE Schnirring, L. UN sets up Ebola headquarters in Ghana. _Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy_. Retrieved from cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/un-sets-ebola-headquarters-ghana QUICK LINK cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/un-sets-ebola-headquarters-ghana RELEVANCE Ghana is working with the UN to host the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. This country is working actively with international partners to stop the outbreak. Ghana and the international community are not approaching this outbreak from a place of FEAR and/or SPECULATION. CREDIBILITY From CIDRAP (cidrap.umn.edu/about-us): “The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP; SID-wrap) is a global leader in addressing public health preparedness and emerging infectious disease response. Founded in 2001, CIDRAP is part of the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota.” ############## REFERENCE HealthMap: 2014 Ebola Outbreak. (2014). [Interactive map]. _HealthMap_. Retrieved from healthmap.org/ebola/ QUICK LINK healthmap.org/ebola/ RELEVANCE This online tool offers a timeline/map-view of the Ebola outbreak and projection data. You can see how close other countries are to the three primary countries with high infection rates and the worldwide sites of infected cases. HealthMaps has other cool maps for monitoring many types of diseases, as well. CREDIBILITY Check out how HealthMaps gathers its data: healthmap.org/site/about ############## Finally, here are a couple of cool resources for learning more about infectious diseases and how they can become pandemics and/or epidemics: RESOURCE _Contagion_. Burns, S. Z. (Producer), & Soderbergh, S. (Director). (2011). [Motion picture]. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video. QUICK LINK en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(film) RELATED LINK cdc.gov/Features/ContagionMovie/ WHY IT’S COOL I studied this movie in Dr. Chris Hagar’s Crisis/Disaster Informatics course at the SJSU School of Information. We reflected on the impact of information sharing and/or dissemination during a pandemic. Here’s my paper to give you an idea on some of the topics we discussed: https://drive.google/file/d/0BxknCsBZLlvlS0hsazdUVFh6V2c/edit?usp=sharing ############## RESOURCE Free Online Course on _Epidemiology: The Basic Science of Public Health_ SPONSOR University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill INSTRUCTORS Dr. Lorraine Alexander, Clinical Associate Professor and Director of Distance Education Epidemiology, and Dr. Karin Yeatts, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, UNC School of Public Health QUICK LINK https://coursera.org/learn/epidemiology/outline WHY IT’S COOL You can take a free online course to understand how scientist research epidemics!
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 21:38:17 +0000
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