At last, the Ebola Virus Disease is
already in Nigeria as a Liberian identified as Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who
came into Lagos aboard a flight from Monrovia, was confirmed dead from
the killer virus after being hospitalised at a Lagos clinic, where the
40-year-old suspect had undergone treatment after battling
unsuccessfully with the ailment. The death marks a new and alarming
cross-border development of the disease – which Doctors Without Borders have
described as ‘out of control’ – having snowballed into the world’s
biggest epidemic and spreading across three West African countries. At
least, about 700 people were said to have died in Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone since the virus was diagnosed early this year.
Ebola is simply regarded as one of the
deadliest viruses on earth, not only because it has no known cure, but
also because it is one of the terrible infections in that it could kill
within hours of symptom, irrespective of whether an infected person gets
treated or not. The initial symptoms, as had been said, include intense
weakness, sudden fever, sore throat, muscle pain, which could result
into diarrhoea, vomiting, internal and external bleeding complications.
The Ebola virus has been traced to wild bats, the carcass of gorillas,
monkeys or chimpanzees while infection in man could be through contact
with body fluids such as the blood and saliva of an infected person. In
1976, it was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(Zaire), where it got its name from the Ebola River Valley with five
different strains out of which three variants: Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Zaire ebolavirus, and Sudan ebolavirus, have been associated with the notorious outbreaks in Africa.
To tame this disease, a promising new
trial for an Ebola vaccine in 2011 has ascertained its ability to
protect against infection in mice. The results, which were published in
the popular journal, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences,
shows that 80 per cent of mice that received four vaccinations over a
two-month period survived after being infected with the virus. Although,
previously developed Ebola vaccines had existed but their effectiveness
was found to have deteriorated over time, as the viral particles in the
vaccine got damaged after long-term storage. In short, the Ebolavirus
appears not to have any vaccines developed to control the disease,
making it very dangerous. Researchers themselves, including the
respected physician, Sheik Umar Khan, widely known as a hero for the
epidemic fight, became a victim too alongside two American aid workers
that tested positive for EVD, while another doctor at Liberia’s largest
hospital, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Centre in Monrovia, were
reportedly infected and killed by the disease. The worrisome nature of
the disease once drew the global attention, through the movie, Outbreak, a 1995 American medical disaster film, directed by Wolfgang Petersen.
As a precautionary measure, the World
Health Organisation has warned people living in high risk areas such as
West Africa not to eat bush meat for the time being because hunters and
consumers of meats of monkey, chimpanzee and other exotic animals are
highly susceptible to infection. The WHO also advises health workers to
be at alert; wear personal protective equipment, observe universal basic
precautions when attending to suspected or confirmed cases by reporting
to local health authorities immediately. Other measures recommended
include properly washing of hands, avoiding close contact with infected
persons and ensuring that objects used by the sick are decontaminated
and properly disposed off.
With Nigeria being in close proximity to
the affected countries, then the question is how prepared are we, to
tame this monster? While the efforts of the Lagos State Government are
highly commendable, the Federal Government through the Minister of
Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has given assurance that the government
was on top of the situation. Apart from the checks put in place by the
Nigeria Immigration Service at border posts, the government should go
the extra length by quickly deploying better surveillance to detect
cases of the virus through enhanced cross-border collaboration, better
engagement with local communities especially the traditional rulers,
market women, religious leaders; establishing closer cooperation with
the United Nations; the nation’s Centre for Disease Control, state
ministries of health, general hospitals; federal medical centres;
teaching hospitals; livestock department of the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture; National Emergency Management Agency as well as the United
States Centre for Disease Control. There is also the need for the
presence of medical experts at seaports and airports to control the
influx of people, especially from endemic countries where the infection
has been reported, although controlling movement of persons in a country
with borders as porous as ours could also be tasking. No doubt, the
ravaging EVD outbreak deserves the necessary attention, going by the
fact that our poorly funded, ill-equipped and strike-ridden health
delivery system may be incapable of curtailing this time bomb. Ebola,
which could kill 90 per cent of those infected, could still be curtailed
such that the casualty rate could drop to almost 60 per cent due to
early treatment. Just like the way Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, has declared a national Ebola emergency in her country, the
Nigerian government should not do less.
There is the cultural dimension that
should not be overlooked. It is amazing that since Ebola broke out, some
people have refused to admit that it is real. They simply perceive the
epidemic as “divine retribution” for past sins while mob groups were
found to have attacked members of the Doctors Without Borders,
forcing the group and other humanitarian workers such as the Red Cross,
to abandon their mission to save lives. Some local leaders were also
said to be spreading rumours and superstition that “the white people”
were merely conducting experiments and so the epidemic is purely a
farce. This is a fallacy that should be erased from the people’s minds
if this deadly disease is to be stamped out. This wrong notion is still
widely held in many African societies culminating into ignorance that
have negatively contributed to the spread of other deadly diseases like
HIV/AIDS.
Conclusively, there is the need for
aggressive and effective management of information and tracing of
suspects that have had contact with the dead Liberian in Lagos. The
problem of corruption remains a big blow to this fight as we know that
many of our officials at points of entries seem not to be doing enough
to screen the influx of the people into the country. Many of them just
look the other way for pecuniary reasons when screening travellers.
Needed equipment are hardly made available in our public institutions.
Bush meat, a major vector of the virus, is still being sold everywhere
and openly without any control. Again, how functional are the telephone
lines provided as emergency contacts? It is common knowledge that
callers of such lines are hardly attended to in times of emergencies. In
most cases, when such calls are picked at all, they abuse the caller
without offering any assistance. The e-mail address provided is hardly
functional as enquiries are not replied to. These loose ends should be
tightened. It is for these reasons that I am afraid that we may still
not be well prepared to effectively contain the spread of Ebola.
No comments:
Post a Comment