CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/29/health/arkansas-girl-amoeba/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
I wish the best to this girl, Kali Hardig. This rare infection is caused by an amoeba that enters the body through the nose and goes to the brain. According to Dr. Dirk Haselow with the Arkansas Department of Health, "This infection is one of the most severe infections that we know of. Ninety-nine percent of people who get it die." The infection's symptoms start one to seven days after infection. The government agency's website also says, "After the start of the symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to twelve days." Between these days, the infected person experiences headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations.
Even though this amoeba is extremely rare, it is extremely important to eradicate it. As stated, 99% of people who get it die and if this amoeba spreads, it would be devastating for everyone and could turn into an epidemic. This disease is also extremely dangerous since it attacks the brain. We do not have the technology to replace the brain so the only thing to do when someone gets this infections is to wait it out and let destiny take its course. All we can do is take extreme measures to lower the risk of infection.
I hope that even though this infection is rare, scientists will continue to try to develop a cure for this infection. Even though there has been a little over 32 reported cases, any infection that claims lives so viciously should be researched. It is heart-wrenching to see someone claimed by a brain-eating infection (or any illness) since she is literally dying on the inside.
Once again, may the odds be ever in her favor and I hope she becomes one of the 1% that survives this infection. Now I bid you farewell because this is such a depressing topic, and the sad music Pandora chose for me to listen to is NOT helping at all.
I enjoyed your reference to The Hunger Games and your side note of the contrast of your music and the article. You also did well about showing your point of view and paraphrasing your article. However, in comparison to your summary, your analysis seems too short. Maybe you could have done some background research about brains and explain some effects from brain damage. Next article, I would like to see the same amount of enthusiasm and hard work with a little more analysis.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I should have done research on my topic since it's pretty interesting. Maybe next time I do something scientific I'll research more on it.
DeleteI agree with Matthew. I felt that your commentary was somewhat weak. I wish you were able to touch up on the the rarity of the infection. For example, most illnesses we know are either from bacteria or viruses. However, this is an amoeba, which might play into the difficulty of finding a cure because it is not something we are used to. You could have also mentioned how you felt about this:
ReplyDeleteDid the infection scare you in the sense that it is so dangerous?
Were you surprised that such a powerful infection existed
Were you surprised that such an infection existed from an amoeba and not the common virus?
I think your blog could have been improved with more of your thoughts.
There were a few grammatical errors, but I think you will be able to find them if you carefully read your blog again.
Otherwise, good job! :)
THANK YOU RACHEL. I didn't think about that! It probably is harder to cure or research on since it is so different and infectious. I re-read my blog and I agree I didn't have that much analyse or my own thoughts. I'll keep that in mind for the next blogs.
DeleteHave fun getting ready for school! (man that sucks)