MY THOUGHTS ON EBOLA A very good morning dear friends. I just woke up abruptly from bed sweating. It was evident that I was in a panic. I could feel it. I recalled that some broadcaster on radio ran a story that my country Zambia had just recorded positive cases of Ebola. Many! But when I woke up I was delighted to note that I had just been dreaming. I had just dosed off whilst lying under a youthful mango tree in our garden after some heavy lunch. We had just eaten nshima with game meat. Duiker game meat. Splendid delicacy it was indeed. I looked around and I was convinced that there was no radio in the vicinity. What a relief. It was going to be a nightmare. No, let’s call this one a “day mare” as all that happened during a full sun of the day! Here, I won’t say where I got the game meat from. No. But then I’m 65% sure it was licensed meat! It is though very clear that much as I’m not yet possibly in contact with practical experience regarding the Ebola virus than my global friends in the most affected areas of the western part of Africa I am at the highest risk of contact. Three days ago I received a phone call from West Africa. It was one of my many grandsons. He works in the bush somewhere in Sierra Leon. By the way Sierra Leon means Mountain Lion in Latin, specifically Spanish or French I think. The gentleman is a mine engineer. His specialty? Ooops, he is an explosives “blast” engineer. He is the chief “blaster”. He plays with seriously big loads of blasts at one of the biggest diamond mines there. And yet he tells me that he has never seen not one stone of diamond before. If that is true which I believe is, what a world we live in. You blast diamond mountains and yet never seen one? So much security I suppose. Only a few “chosen ones” tend to handle the last product. The diamond. Is it true then that diamonds are forever? Sounds true to me. Diamonds are also believed to be a woman’s best friend. Whenever they appear, a man is shelved for a while so that a woman could “tenderly” attend to a diamond! Ha. This could be a very bitter pill for a man to swallow. My grandson jokes that his is to blast the latest explosive in town. Bring down the biggest mountain. Then simply go lie down and read a novel or so. And wait for the next call! Colleagues I try not to annoy the gentleman. He is dangerous. I have to maintain peace with him for without that peace, he could simply detonate “something” and blaaaaast me off! And there would be no grandpa left. Me. I dread that. I have to maintain reasonable peace. In which ever its form. I’m never short of compliment showering on him. “I’m proud of what you do grand boy. I’m proud of you”, I would usually say. “Oh oh there you go again granny. There you go again”, he would shyly respond. I had earlier found a missed call. The number was strange to me as he had never used that one. As I was thinking through the numbers he called again and I answered. “Hello grand pa”, he said to me as he usually does. “Hey man I said. How are you? Good to hear your voice my man?” I responded. He did not leave room for more and usual conversations. “How is the situation back home?” He asked steadily. “Hmmm, which situation my man?” I asked. “The Ebola virus”, he responded. “Oh, the Ebola Virus? We are fine son“, I said. From his voice I could hear and feel some quivering. He was not sounding like I know him. “Fine granny, I’m ok too. But I hear that Zambia is not accepting travelers from Ebola affected areas? Is that true? But then what happens to me when my quarterly break comes through? Would my entry be revoked? And where would I go from there?” he asked. I knew from there that the Ebola problem was bigger than I thought. I was so close to the problem. And yet I was still very far away from giving accurate answers to Ebola which was a grand puzzle being tackled by the global community. As we conversed further I tried to calm him down and convince him that no such rumours were true. He was a Zambian. And the right to visit his own country and family could never be compromised. Never! He sounded a bit relieved by my counsel and stayed calm for a while. The he gave me a bombshell. “Anyway I mainly called to inform you that I have made my decision. This period is my last. When I finish and get back home for the usual break I’m not getting back here granny. It is not interesting anymore. Don’t start asking me questions. Don’t give lectures on this one please. I‘m done. Partly because I am tired of work and just want to get home and find something else to do. And also that I can not stand the Ebola thing. I am in the bush in Sierra Leon. This is the region where most people have died from the disease. And we mingle with the local co-workers every minute. It’s scary grand pa”, he said amid what I imagined could be a bit of sobs. “Yes it is grandson. It is scary. I have no reason to stop you from what would be the best decision for you and the family. That’s priority for me. And so be it. That’s if your decision would bring both physical and psychological harmony. Yes”, I said. After that we exchanged a few words and he hang up after our byes were said from both ends. And so I remained thinking. The situation I found myself in regarding my grandson opened my eyes too much. Is there a region or country that was truly ready to tackle Ebola? I work in the department of health in my country. And i feel that it would be unfair to ourselves at this point to have that question divide us. That question should unite us now more than ever. Colleagues, let’s leave Politics out of this one please! Let’s join hands tightly and embrace the globe. All of us. Regardless of whom we are. Those who are Very rich. The middle class. And the poor. Suffice to mention that we badly need each other on this one. My foot! I say this frankly. That, no country is ready to tackle Ebola. The whole world is not ready yet. How could individual countries claim to be ready? The other day I heard on our National Radio that even trial medicines are so scarce so far. If I heard correctly, which I think I did, that Canada had just sent 250 doses or so to the most affected region of West Africa since last week. Imagine 250 doses only! Let alone those doses are straight from animal trials only. Never been tried on humans before. No time. That means we will be trying to treat our grandfathers and mothers, uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters, children and beyond whilst researching the consequences of possible side effects. But then we know at this point that there should be no one to blame. The urgency to save those already infected outweighs the dreaded thoughts of possible side effects of any form from such a drug. We will know more as we move on. Believe it or not, the world is in a panic. We need extremely sober leadership on this one. We need to shed off our usual greed as humans and put more resources in the research basket. Canada et al has shown us its human face. But they are also scared! They want to stop the Ebola virus from afar. They are researching and working hard with the rest of the global medical research community. Their Virologists are not sleeping. They know and understand the hefty price humans would be about to pay if we all looked away and ignored the strikingly devilish virulence of the Ebola virus. So far Ebola has shown us that it does not give time for one or any organization to maneuver. As seen, even the World Health Organization have acknowledged that they could have underated the Ebola problem so far. They and I now know that HIV is deadly. It’s terrible. But it at least gives slight chance to research and maneuver. Not Ebola. Thus let’s fall on ways we should enforce to prevent Ebola at every level. That’s the best way to go I belive. Starting at household level. That’s my interest. I believe that winning a bigger picture at global level is highly dependent on winning the smallest picture. In this case the household level. No prayers without action would save mankind here. To our Men of God do not only pray from afar here. It will not work. Join in the community. You have the biggest role to play. Learn about Ebola prevention as much as you can. Open your hearts and hands. Go out and contact the nearest health providing offices near you. The health authorities should be happy to receive you. Get as much accurate information as possible. Take it back to your flock. Please give out practical information. Then mix it with strong prayer. Not prayers alone please! That way Ebola will not go. It will not be defeated. Our Royal highnesses. Our Chiefs. Headmen. Other traditional leaders. Take heed. Your leadership role is very clear. Call your health providers to your respectable grand and distinguished palaces. Charge the health providers who are infact your subjects to give you, not the usual complicated diagrams and calculations. But simple, accurate and practically effective messages on how to prevent Ebola. You shall then transmit the information to thy Royal families and your flock. Accurate information that is. And my fellow community members, especially those in highlight positions in the communities you live in. Interact with health providers in your immediate communities you live and call home. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Please have interest. Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Nurses. Men and women in uniform. Call for community focus group meetings in your areas and “propound” on Ebola prevention. The “chitentes” are a good forum to spread important issues on Ebola prevention. Let’s help to get the information to the needy. We need to lead the mobilization of local resources and education of the people we live with. Regardless of religious affiliations kindly call for small meetings and talk about Ebola prevention for a few minutes. Maybe an hour or so on agreed times. What products are needed that each household should add to their daily plans? The household should plan for Ebola virus prevention to supplement their Governments. I said earlier, please no blame game here colleagues. There is no time for that. The clock is ticking against all of us. The whole world is not prepared. So let us supplement in the smallest way we can at household level. By the way have we secured simple health desks within the premises of our state houses? Especially in Africa? Only this time not to look at “policy…policy and….policy?” But simply ensuring the highest levels of preventive activities with regards to Ebola? That would be a dream come true for me. If the simple desk has been warranted space resources where virus sensitive soap, sanitisers, and detergents could as well be promoted. Really! Remember that diplomats from elsewhere come in and out of state houses every minute. Who said a diplomat can’t habour the Eblola virus and leave it in a state house? That way such initiative to curb Ebola at such high levels would reflect to other institutions with ease. According to the World Health Organization, Ebola is caused by a virus. There are many groups but here we should be talking about the Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV). From the archives we learn that Ebola first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, in Nzara, Sudan, and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name. Key facts • Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. • Ebola outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%. • Ebola outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests. • The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. • Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus. • Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals. Transmission Ebola is introduced into the human population through 1. Direct (broken skin or mucous membranes) contact with infected blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest. Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and 2. Indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids could also be responsible. My beloved hat completely goes off to all health-care workers who are the natural front runners in trying to curb Ebola. In that case they have also frequently fallen to be the number one victims at risk. Sincere, very deep heartfelt thoughts go to the families of all those health workers who instead of getting back home into the warm arms of their loved ones have already perished in the Ebola fight line of duty. A million questions would linger here. Have our global health workers been equipped enough with the needed “riot” like gear they see on television or internet? Have we reduced contact by ensuring that at least temperatures from suspected Ebola victims are taken from a recommended distance during screening and possible treatment? Ooops! By the way have our health workers ever seen or used a non-contact thermometer? I now own one as seen on the shown photos I took from my home work desk to share. So it is a simple affordable gadget which could be used to measure temperature from a small distance away thus avoiding direct contact with clients. I think such would be handy for this Ebola times and beyond. It is time we embraced technology. Not for God’s sake but for our own sake. God help our Governments, especially in Africa to suspend the buying of those latest office Prados, Benz, Ford rangers, Range rovers and the like. For this moment at least. The Ebola moment. Maybe even beyond. Kindly understand me colleagues as I am not suggesting this because I do not own one of these gorgeous toys. I am simply suggesting that we save some resources for this emergency so that we save our skins! Let them Leaders buy modest vehicles and channel the remaining resources towards preparations for Ebola. Let our leaders be reminded. If they pretend not to understand the Ebola emergency I suggest that they should be reminded using the one on one method using each one of the leaders’ local vibe to engage them. Their local languages! Signs and symptoms The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days. “Ba Phiri” may have sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. Such may most likely be followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. Diagnosis. Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed definitively in a laboratory through several types of tests: • antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) • antigen detection tests • serum neutralization test • reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay • electron microscopy • virus isolation by cell culture. No licensed vaccine for the Ebola virus is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none, so definite are available for clinical use. UNCOMPROMISED HYGIENE IS KEY TO PREVENT AND CURB EBOLA! • Routine cleaning and disinfection with sodium hypochlorite or other detergents. • Have one small bottle of hand rub or sanitizers in your hand bag or jacket pocket and use to disinfect your hands all the time! • Quarantine. • Culling of infected animals, with close supervision of burial or incineration of carcasses, may be necessary to reduce the risk of animal-to-human transmission. • Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption. • Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home • Environmental controls. Like I always say. God has already provided for us. He has given us plenty of resources in front of our eyes. Let us promote equity of access of resources for everyone. Let us share. Let us buy the correct protective resources for our people who are risking their lives in the fight against Ebola. Making a journey to the Ebola front is worse than being taken to the concentration camp. You may have chance to be pardoned at the camp. Or sweet still escape to freedom again! Not Ebola. It gives no chance for a slightest breach in personal protection protocol. And least I forget let me remind my Ngoni cousins that according to WHO, men who have recovered from the Ebola disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from the illness. “Wapya munzi apa shamwali. Nkhani yogwira pachakudya yamvekanso futi?“ Enjoy the week my friends.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 05:13:25 +0000
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