The Zika Outbreak Of The 21st Century Analysis

Imagine this: it’s the 14th century and the plague is starting to rapidly spread around Europe. The disease begins to move from family to family, killing anyone in its path. Boils on the skin appear, unbearable fever strikes and then, weakness takes over the body until the victim collapses to their death. Now, flash forward years into the future. Many men are becoming cripplingly ill from the sexually transmitted disease, AIDS. Spreading from individual to individual, this catastrophic disease has taken so many beautiful souls— both young and old. As we are aware, pandemics and epidemics have been and will continue to be a global struggle, indefinitely. Showing no mercy upon its victims, these deadly diseases have taken a countless number of

During the outbreak of the zika virus, various travel warnings and alerts were sent out to public in attempts to reduce the number of victims affected. In the article “The Zika Outbreak of the 21st century”, the authors emphasize the travel routes of the virus and how to avoid the affected areas. Directed especially at pregnant women, the article states that various government systems had “advised their pregnant citizens to avoid travel” (10.2.1) to the affected countries. More specifically, “the CDC issued a travel alert (level 2- practice enhance precautions) advising pregnant women to postpone travel to Brazil and other countries due to reports of microcephaly…”. (10.2.2) Even though these government and medical officials have “advised” that pregnant women postpone their travels, they are still allowing these women to go— even with the increased chance that their fetus could die. When dealing with pandemics, being ‘too careful’ does not apply. As humans, we often feel untouchable or immortal with the mindset of “that would never happen to me!”. In many cases, we neglect unwanted truths by continuing on with our daily routines. An example of this can be seen in book one, chapter one of War of the Worlds. On the Martians initial arrival, the narrator noted that the people around him haven't changed their routines in the slightest. He says it’s “almost incredibly wonderful that, with that swift fate hanging over us, men could go about their petty concerns as they did.” (Wells 19). Even though Martians are invading their land and humanity is at stake, these individuals are still concerned with their frivolous tasks. No matter what the disaster may be, humans must begin to take these matters more seriously because eventually, their luck will run