January 21,2007
New York Times, January 15, 2007
Olivia Judson
"So many of the problems we face are huge and hard to solve — climate change, malaria, war in the Middle East, destruction of the rain forests. Rabies is not on that list. To deal with it is just a matter of logistics and money. We should act. Now." As seen from the quote above, this article logically argued it points. It started with documented cases of rabies in Africa that would have gone untreated because of the victim's inability to pay for the vaccine, as well as the shortages of vaccines in this area. However, a group of scientists heard about their predicament and got the vaccines for all who were infected. The author goes on to tell the symptoms and effects of this disease and while it was purely scientific, it touched the emotional side of me to see that people must suffer through this terrible disease because of something such as a shortage of the vaccine or the inability to pay for them. She goes on to propose a solution to the problem that was well thought out. She uses scientific evidence as well as a logical brain to point out that this problem could be easily remedied. She used clear arguments and was not biased in any way. While I am not sure the solution is as easy as she detailed because of the tendency of things to get "caught in the system" I think she presented a clear logical solution to a problem that is faced by many.
Take a look at the article if you get a chance, it was very interesting.
http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/a-coffin-for-rabies/index.html?ref=opinion
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6 comments:
I find it funny that I am in a microbiology class right now and actually learning about the first vaccinations. HELLO! These aren't a new thing. They've been around for awhile. Why then are we able to allow some people to die from a lack of such a long time remedy? I find it really sad, but I am glad that those people in Africa received treatment. Perhaps they could try to prevent those people from originally contracting the disease and eliminate their need for the vaccin at all? Just a thought!
I never really thought that rabies would be a problem in todays world. I guess in the poorer countries they don't have the money for vaccinations. The author could have said ways that we could have helped because it does seem like a touching subject.
I did not realize there was a rabies problem either. I have never heard of anyone having rabies. I guess that goes to show how lucky we are not to be exposed to such a horrible thing as rabies. However, the other article on this blog, Emergency Room Delays, suggests we have the similar problem. People are not receiving proper health care because of the lack of money. Governments are more concerned about killing people in wars then providing health care for all. This is just unacceptable.
I think that in our area, we do not hear that much about a rabies epidemic so it goes mostly unthought of. I hope that poorer countries can get the help to afford neccessary vaccinations so they can prevent such diseases from spreading.
The article was very informative in the scientific fact, but it didn't really talk about how we would go about this world-wide rabies hunt. The cost was discussed, but the action of who is going to do it and what will be done was left out. Do we send our military to end rabies in other countries? But I do agree that something needs to be done. I would just like to know how.
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