Ebola is very destructive. It attacks literally every single tissue and organ in its host except bone and skeletal tissue, causes it to go through extreme fevers, and causes the skin to bubble up. The first system affected is the circulatory system, causing "clots to drift through the bloodstream, where they get stuck. This shuts off blood supply" (Preston 105) to some parts of the body, preventing blood and oxygen supply to those parts of the body. This causes the body to start to deteriorate quicker. Ebola's favorite food is collagen, which is the connective tissue of the body. A virus doesn't die because it isn't technically alive in the first place, so even after the host dies, the virus continues to reproduces and eat away at the proteins and connective tissue in its host, making it deteriorate more quickly than a normal cadaver. The severe fevers also cause the rate of deterioration to be higher; higher temperatures yield higher enzymatic activity: the enzymatic activity dealing with the reproduction of the virus and the death of the still present cells in the organism. The cadaver of an Ebola victim won't last very long for this reason, so the autopsies have to be performed almost immediately. Otherwise, the cadaver will turn to mush and the autopsy won't reveal much quality information.
Perhaps Nancy doesn't want to be around Ebola more than she has to. She was preparing herself to do the procedure and thought , "KEEP IT CLEAN, Nancy thought. No blood. No blood. I don't like blood" (Preston 52). For her own mental health, she probably wanted to do those autopsies and relax quickly. Of course, Ebola destroying the body quickly is a reason, but to work with death is awful. Nancy even dreaded the thought of her life being over when there was a chance of a leak in her last glove. After the relief of no leak, she collapsed; so for mental reasons Nancy had to work quickly (Preston, 1995).
Ebola is very destructive. It attacks literally every single tissue and organ in its host except bone and skeletal tissue, causes it to go through extreme fevers, and causes the skin to bubble up. The first system affected is the circulatory system, causing "clots to drift through the bloodstream, where they get stuck. This shuts off blood supply" (Preston 105) to some parts of the body, preventing blood and oxygen supply to those parts of the body. This causes the body to start to deteriorate quicker. Ebola's favorite food is collagen, which is the connective tissue of the body. A virus doesn't die because it isn't technically alive in the first place, so even after the host dies, the virus continues to reproduces and eat away at the proteins and connective tissue in its host, making it deteriorate more quickly than a normal cadaver. The severe fevers also cause the rate of deterioration to be higher; higher temperatures yield higher enzymatic activity: the enzymatic activity dealing with the reproduction of the virus and the death of the still present cells in the organism. The cadaver of an Ebola victim won't last very long for this reason, so the autopsies have to be performed almost immediately. Otherwise, the cadaver will turn to mush and the autopsy won't reveal much quality information.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Nancy doesn't want to be around Ebola more than she has to. She was preparing herself to do the procedure and thought , "KEEP IT CLEAN, Nancy thought. No blood. No blood. I don't like blood" (Preston 52). For her own mental health, she probably wanted to do those autopsies and relax quickly. Of course, Ebola destroying the body quickly is a reason, but to work with death is awful. Nancy even dreaded the thought of her life being over when there was a chance of a leak in her last glove. After the relief of no leak, she collapsed; so for mental reasons Nancy had to work quickly (Preston, 1995).
ReplyDelete