Anthropological Perspectives on
introduction
For our project we conducted semi-structured interviews with experts and a focus group comprised of UConn students. The ethnographic component of our project was focused on the media coverage of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak and how UConn students viewed the disease. Our expert interviews drew on the biological, social, and cultural perspectives of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak while also touching on their experiences in academia. Our goals for our expert interviews were to understand the reality of the disease from an academic standpoint in comparison to assumptions and beliefs held by outsiders.
BACKGROUND
Ebola (EVD) is a deadly viral disease. It was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in Zaire (the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). Outbreaks, since it's discovery, have been rare and primarily in African nations, with some occurrences in other countries around the world. Small scale outbreaks have occurred throughout the years in the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, and the Ivory Coast.
Infected animals are the identifiable hosts of the disease. Once humans are infected they begin to experience symptoms between 2-21 days post-infection. Symptoms include fever, aches, and pains (severe headaches, joint and muscle pain, abdominal pains) weakness and fatigue, gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea and vomiting, and also hemorrhaging (CDC). EVD can spread through direct contact with bodily fluids (sweat, blood, and saliva) and animal tissues.
TIMELINE
Below is a timeline of the outbreak, spanning from 2013-2014. Information is courtesy of Rebecca Davis from The Guardian
December 6th, 2013
Patient Zero was a two-year-old Guinean boy named Emile Ouamouno, who most likely contracted the virus from infected fruit bats that his friends and he were collecting.
March 22, 2014
Once identified, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) set up a field hospital. Previous experience meant to isolate the sick and bury the dead with proper precautions.
April 8, 2014
Hundreds attended an infected healer, Mendinor's funeral. During a traditional ceremony where people lay hands on the corpse and then on themselves, many contracted the disease.
August 8, 2014
Liberian man spread Ebola to Nigeria. He made contact with 72 people, but swift response contained the virus. The WHO declared Ebola an international emergency.
August 23, 2014
British aid worker William Pooley became infected in Sierra Leone. This case, among other Ebola cases in Western countries, pushed Ebola into headlines.
October 20, 2014
Nigeria was declared Ebola-free, and other countries saw an decline in incidence. Boosts in medical care and the locals' change in approach to Ebola are the cited to be contributing factors
May 9, 2015
Liberia declared Ebola-free. Social norms have changed; hugging as a custom is dissuaded and previous mourning practices are banned. Guinea and Sierra Leone continue to fight the disease.
March 21, 2014
Scientists identify Ebola virus as the cause, after the Guinean government sent doctors to the areas affected with this unidentified illness
March 28, 2014
MSF struggled with the scale of the disease, and within a week it reached Guinea’s capital, Conakry. The government ordered the down-playing of the scale of the disease.
May 24, 2014
Ebola spread to Sierra Leone. The Kenema Hospital was overrun with patients; hygiene measures weren’t established. The wary avoided care and furthered disease.
August 16, 2014
MSF became overwhelmed in Liberia, and an isolation center established. Miscommunication led hysteria, and locals stormed the center to remove loved ones.
September 29, 2014
MSF’s pleading resulted in the US soldiers and CDC scientists being deployed. Along with organizations from the UK, they built facilities and trained aid workers with infection prevention protocols.
November 5, 2014
The UK helps Sierra Leone with a treatment complex fitted with 80 more patient beds and 12 worker beds. A testing lab run by Public Health England was at the center.
CASE STUDY: Guinea
The 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa was the largest outbreak in history and the first to occur in West Africa. This outbreak differed in multiple ways from the outbreaks in East Africa. The common factors that previous outbreaks were that they were small, localized, rarely occurred. The 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa was large and was not localized as it spread geographically impacting Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. During this time, Guinea was experiencing a transitional government and militia groups were crossing identified borders through all three countries as well. The first cases in each of these countries occurred within months of each other, unlike the East African outbreaks.
The strain Ebola that was prevalent in this outbreak was Ebola Zaire, ZEBOV.
Fruit bats served as the reservoirs of the ZEBOV, as their DNA replicated the disease, and they were also able to survive the infection. Fruit bats in Guinea had a role in Guinean cuisine as either dried meat used in meals or for a traditional spicy soup.
The first case (index) of the ZEBOV Outbreak was traced back to an 18-month-old boy, Emile Ouamouno, of the Meliandou Village (in the Guéckédou prefecture, a southern region of Guinea where much of the Outbreak occurred). In February of 2014, ZEBOV reached Conakry, the coastal capital city of Guinea. An extended family member of the index case came in contact with someone in Conakry, which led to the virus spreading to another person and another region of the country. By August, the WHO had declared the 2014 Ebola Outbreak an International Public Health Emergency.
Literature Review
In Veronica Gomez-Temesio's article, "Outliving Death: Ebola, Zombies, and the Politics of Saving Lives. (2018)", she analyzes how the figure of an Ebola Zombie captures the limitations of humanitarian aid and the devaluation of the infected people's lives. By alluding to the "Politics of Saving Lives", Gomez-Temesio draws on moments during her ethnographic study in Guinea and Liberia of the social and biological deaths that people who were infected with EVD faced. During the 2014 Ebola Outbreak, many Guineans were skeptical of the humanitarian aid workers who came in to provide assistance and contain the outbreak. Without a proper introduction to the communities they served, humanitarian workers faced resistance as they were doing what they could to help, but were not fully accepted in the communities they were in.
Souleymane Soumahoro's article, "Ethnic Politics and Ebola Response in West Africa (2017)", examines the effects of power-sharing on vulnerability to adverse shocks in a multiethnic setting. By choosing Guinea as a case study for this analysis of American Perspectives of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, it provided insight on the structural and societal barriers that exacerbated the outbreak's impact in the country.
Guinea's government was going through a period of transitional justice, after a long history with coup d'états and an unstable political system. Between 1958-2008 (respectively 2010), ethnic politics played a significant role in Guinean society. During the outbreak, it was believed that politicians were directly channeling valuable health resources towards their ethnic base. Soumahoro goes in-depth on how this level of health-related deservingness was overcome. Soumahoro also analyzed how the outbreaks in West Africa were similar and different, Guinea being the least similar. This was due to issues attributed to structural violence and poor infrastructure that hindered the administration of healthcare. The total number of cases documented in Guinea was 3814, and the total deaths were 2544. Differing drastically from Liberia (total cases documented, 10678 and total deaths 4810) and Sierra Leone (total cases documented, 14124, and total deaths 3956) (CDC: Case Counts).
sources
Davis, Rebecca. “Ebola Epidemic 2014: Timeline.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Oct. 2014,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/ebola-epidemic-2014-timeline.
5 Oct. 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/index.html.
Paper Series from RePEc (2017): IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc, 2017. Web.
https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-016-0194-4.
Veronica Gomez‐Temesio. "Outliving Death: Ebola, Zombies, and the Politics of Saving Lives." American Anthropologist
120.4 (2018): 738-51. Web.
“Case Counts Error Processing SSI File.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 8 Mar. 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/case-counts.html.