Question 19M.2.SL.TZ1.1e
| Date | May 2019 | Marks available | [Maximum mark: 3] | Reference code | 19M.2.SL.TZ1.1e |
| Level | SL | Paper | 2 | Time zone | TZ1 |
| Command term | Suggest | Question number | e | Adapted from | N/A |
Suggest reasons for the high percentage of fatal cases at Ebola treatment centres.
[3]
a. most serious cases are in/are taken to treatment centers
OR
treatment centers are set up where there are most cases/most serious cases ✔
b. long time/distance to travel between contracting disease and arrival at treatment center
OR
travel to treatment center weakens/upsets/harms the patient ✔
c. Ebola is a virulent disease/Ebola virus mutated «to become virulent»
OR
little known about Ebola/new disease so treatments not yet developed ✔
d. no/not enough vaccine/antiviral drug available «in 2014/15»
OR
antibiotics do not work against viral diseases ✔
e. secondary infections/Ebola patients infected with other diseases/other Ebola strains
OR
ineffective hygiene/cleaning/sterilization/use of contaminated equipment/disposal of corpses ✔
f. small number of staff relative to patients/treatment centers overcrowded/swamped with patients
OR
insufficient equipment/supplies for large number of patients/with the rapid rise in patients ✔
g. better reporting at Ebola centers/deaths due to Ebola not reported in rural areas ✔
This was a timely question with Ebola epidemics again causing great problems in parts of Africa. Students were expected to have had some practice at analysing data relating to an epidemic because of this Skill in the programme: Analysis of epidemiological data related to vaccination programmes. It was assumed that candidates would understand terms such as ‘case’, ‘fatal case’, ‘infect’ and ‘treat’.
This was a more difficult question. We might expect fewer fatalities in percentage terms at treatment centres than elsewhere, but the data showed that there were more. Not all candidates realised that the figures given indicated the percentage of people diagnosed with Ebola that died, not the percentage of the population as a whole. As in 1(c) a wide variety of answers was accepted. Some of the answers related to Ebola having a high mortality rate generally, but to score three marks it was necessary to find reasons for treatment centres in particular having high rates of death. One suggestion commonly given but not accepted was that patients became infected after arrival at treatment centres – this would not necessarily give a high fatality rate or percentage and also uninfected people are unlikely to be brought to treatment centres. Some students thought that the more infected people a patient came into contact with, the more infected they would be. This ignores the potential for the Ebola virus to multiply exponentially once inside a patient. Material shortages were only accepted as a reason if this was combined with the idea that treatment centres were swamped with patients.
