Distressing Ebola — getting worse before it gets better?
Describing Ebola as distressing is perhaps an understatement. It is an upsetting disease of no mean measure. And for anyone familiar with the tragic story of the first victim of Patrick Sawyer’s infection, the understanding is better.
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Patrick Sawyer is the American who reportedly brought the Ebola virus from Liberia into Nigeria and died shortly thereafter. His first victim was a female medical doctor.
Last week, a friend shared a touching eulogy dedicated to this female Nigerian medical doctor whose life was cut short dramatically following her contact with Patrick Sawyer while honouring her Hippocratic Oath.
The eulogy described her as hard working and dedicated, full of life and generous at heart. At the time of her passing, she had won so many hearts in Nigeria simply for her dedication and selfless approach to her medical practice.
When Patrick Sawyer collapsed shortly on arrival at the Lagos airport and was rushed to the hospital, he apparently told the medical doctor on duty that he was suffering from malaria.
He must have concealed the fact that he had been in close contact with a relative who had died of the disease back in Liberia. He was indeed tested for malaria and the hospital found some malaria parasites in his blood and so proceeded to treat him for that.
All that time, the doctor went about giving care without the necessary protective clothing as is required for the treatment of Ebola patients.
It was not until further test results proved positive for haemorrhagic fever that the realisation of an Ebola infection came to light. By that time, the patient had died and the medical doctor had contracted the virus. It was too late.
The eulogy did not fail to show the contrast; the fine and likeable doctor who had numerous admirers across the length and breadth of Nigeria during her lifetime, in death, had no one to openly mourn her with a fitting farewell.
What is worse, she received an undignified burial due to the circumstances of her death. Ironically, to show how passionate she was about her job, she hanged a framed copy of her Hippocratic Oath conspicuously in her office as a daily reminder of her commitment to save lives, no matter what.
No doubt, as Senegal reported its first case of a young Guinean student testing positive last Thursday, thus becoming the fifth West African state to fall victim to arguably the world’s deadliest disease ever. Ebola is undoubtedly getting worse as the days unfold. As described by Reuters news last week, Ebola “has defied efforts by governments to control it.”
Now, the leading charity fighting the disease in West Africa, Medicins Sans Frontiers, is said to have called on the United Nations Security Council to take charge of efforts to stop the epidemic.
Infection rates keep rising. When exactly four weeks ago I researched and wrote on the bat connection to the virus, the number of persons who had died from the virus stood around 950. Last week, it was reported that 1,550 persons had died and almost 3,000 people had been infected since Guinea reported the first case of Ebola in March this year. What is fuelling the spread?
Perhaps what makes the situation a bit dire is our cultural sensitivities as Africans. In some of the affected countries, it has been reported that families and patients are suspicious of health workers clad from head to toe in plastic protective gear and wearing protective masks and are, therefore, shunning medical assistance, often preferring to die at home. Ignorant of the brutality of the virus, such attitudes of keeping the infected at home rather than quarantined and properly disposing of the dead are fuelling the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, with those who make it to the hospital, healthcare workers are also contracting the virus unknowingly. So far, 120 health workers are said to have contracted the virus and are said to have died.
Last Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is said to have warned that a total of 20,000 people could be infected before the outbreak ends. That is no encouraging news. What the world is seeking to hear from the WHO is the progress to counter or eliminate infections by way of new and effective medication.
African governments will also do well to intensify education on Ebola. cultural practices should not fuel the spread of the disease.