HOW PATRICK SAWYER BROUGHT KILLER EBOLA TO NIGERIA It’s a mild-weathered day in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. The weeping and wailing of those losing loved ones can be heard from a distance. True, there are no petals in Monrovia. Its bloom withers with a ravaging virus. Inside his home in Monrovia, Patrick Sawyer, 40, looks into the mirror for a conviction. With his flight ticket in his hand, he must travel to Nigeria for an Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) duty. But for the umpteenth time, the memory of his late sister flashes through his mind. He shrugs it off. In a moment, he moves out of his base for a voyage to Nigeria. He carries the Ebola virus with him. The only reason for the death of his sister, just a few days earlier. As the car carrying him rolls along the weak-surface airport road, his mind moves away from Monrovia. At the Spriggs Payne Airport in Monrovia, Sawyer is under the prying eye of the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), but he’s unaware. His strange behaviour and frequent pacing up and down is making him a centre of attraction for the security camera operator. Sawyer is spending the time waiting for Asky Airline that will fly him to Nigeria with a layover in Togo. With the virus under his cloaks, he chose to suffer in silence. “His strange behaviour and frequent movement up and down as he eagerly awaits his Asky flight had prompted the security camera operator to focus on him. In the video, Patrick could be seen avoiding physical contacts with airport employees and other passengers during the check in process,” says The New Dawn, a national newspaper in Monrovia. A wide-eyed young man with a chubby cheek, it’s hard to figure out that Sawyer is sick, except that his sister died of Ebola virus earlier and the news of his contact with his sister is everywhere. The bloodstain on his cloth the day his sister died blew the lid open, but Sawyer is pretending that he’s free of the deadly Ebola virus. Now, the Airport video footage shows Sawyer lying flat on his stomach on the floor in the corridor of the airport with a sign of excruciating pain. He frequently prevents people from touching him as well. Yes, he snubs an Immigration officer who wants a handshake as he walks unto the boarding gate. Now aboard Asky aircraft to Nigeria, Sawyer is feeling cool with himself. At least he’s no more in the troubled zone of Monrovia. He escapes being quarantined. But the virus is moving with him. Without a doubt, Sawyer is terribly sick where he’s seated aboard the Asky aircraft, but he’s living in denial. His vomit hours before he leaves Monrovia has become a case in reference. FrontPage Africa, another Liberian newspaper, reports that Sawyer, who is believed to have been infected by his sister who died of Ebola told its reporter soon before he travelled to Nigeria that he had gone in search of his sisters husband who ran away after she tested positive for Ebola.The newspaper says Sawyer vomited a few times among his friends in Liberia just before heading to the airport and also on the plane. In Nigeria, Sawyer steps off the airplane at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and slumps. The Ebola virus is having a grip on him with embarrassment. Of course, credulous Nigerians at the airport think it’s a mere fatigue, so they rush to help him up. That way, he passes the virus into the country. The journey to discovery will start in a jiffy. He’s to be taken to the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende area of Lagos. First Consultants is for the high-class, its services are first-class too. On the way there, Sawyer sufficiently passes the virus into the car conveying him with his bodily fluids. The driver and the ECOWAS support staff accompanying him are not spared too. The story rings true at the hospital, but he denies three times like Simon Peter’s denial of truth about his relationship with Jesus Christ. He’s violent and becoming abusive to scare off the health workers. At this time, the doctor and nurse who are having the first contact with Sawyer catch the bug. They are now living with the virus without an idea. “Looking to get to the bottom of Sawyer’s strange ailment on the Asky Airline flight, which Sawyer transferred on in Togo, hospital officials say, he was tested for both malaria and HIV AIDS. However, when both tests came back negative, he was then asked whether he had made contact with any person with the Ebola Virus, to which Sawyer denied. Sawyer’s sister, Princess had died of the deadly virus on Monday, July 7, 2014 at the Catholic Hospital in Monrovia,” reports Frontpage Africa. At around 6pm on July 25, Sawyer died and Nigeria records its index case in a virus that is alien to the country. And a few days later the nurse who treated Sawyer died too. Now the government says there are over 100 cases in the country with a fatality rate of 28.9 per cent. Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf cited indiscipline and disrespect as a key reason Sawyer contracted the Ebola virus. She says his failure to heed medical advice put the lives of other residents across the nation’s border at risk. But for his death, Sawyer has planned to visit the United States after touching down in Nigeria. He’s in the mood for celebration. It’s August and two of his girls would be celebrating their birthdays. “Patrick was coming here. What if he still wasnt displaying symptoms yet and came. He could have brought Ebola here. Someone else could bring Ebola here,” says Decontee Sawyer, his wife of six years. Distressed Decontee in an interview with Pioneer Press says she’s sharing her husbands fate so that the public can understand how quickly the virus can spread. Sawyer, who worked for the Liberian Finance Ministry, married his wife Decontee in December 2008, in Coon Rapids. According to reports, the couple, who both hold US citizenship, are originally from Liberia. They are part of the large Liberian community in Minnesota, United States, who moved there in the aftermath of Liberia’s two civil wars in the 1980s and late 1990s. Sadly, Sawyer is gone, with his ashes given back to his country, but Nigerians are battling with the outbreak and rumours cure. At first, it was about kolanut as a cure, and then the rhythm changed to salt bath. None of that will cure Ebola, experts say. Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebushi Chukwu calls it “wicked lie,” and his counterpart at the Ministry of Information, Labaran Maku, says those spreading such bad rumour should be careful because the laws are there to catch up with them. “There is no known cure. Anyone infected with this disease should stay within the quarantine area.” he adds. Now, those who experiment with salt as a fortification against Ebola virus in Jos, Plateau State are hospitalised. Reports say they took the salt in excess and later came down with various ailments. Health experts warn that people should be more careful, wash their hands with soap or use sanitiser constantly, because it’s unclear how far the virus has spread in the country from the index case of Sawyer. They say religious centres must be wary of the virus, because of the way people mingle there freely. Clearly, Ebola virus is on the loose in Nigeria through contact with just one man who escaped quarantine. It is the windy journey of Patrick Sawyer. Ebola Virus Facts Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. It is a rare but deadly virus that causes bleeding inside and outside the body. As the virus spreads through the body, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes levels of blood-clotting cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding. It spreads to people by contact with the skin or bodily fluids of an infected animal, like a monkey, chimp, or fruit bat. Then it moves from person to person the same way. Those who care for a sick person or bury someone who has died from the disease often get it. Other ways to get Ebola include touching contaminated needles or surfaces. You can’t get Ebola from air, water, or food. A person who has Ebola but has no symptoms can’t spread the disease, either. Early on, Ebola can feel like the flu or other illnesses. Symptoms show up 2 to 21 days after infection and usually include: High fever, headache, Joint and muscle aches, Sore throat, weakness, stomach pain, lack of appetite among others. As the disease gets worse, it causes bleeding inside the body, as well as from the eyes, ears, and nose. Some people will vomit or cough up blood, have bloody diarrhoea, and get a rash. The EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90 per cent. Currently EVD outbreaks have been recorded in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. There have been pockets of suspected cases in Saudi Arabia, United States and Spain. Ebola Virus Myth It is not true that Ebola virus disease can be cured with Kola nut or prevented through bath salt. There is no known cure for the virus and it’s only preventable through regular hand washing with soap and the use of sanitiser. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals. It is important to report a case immediately it occurs to avoid its spread and contact with such a person should be avoided. Ebola is not an airborne disease.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 08:11:59 +0000
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