BY COSMAS ODOEMENA
In the wake of the Ebola virus attack in Liberia, the country’s deputy health minister, Bernice Dahn, warned in an emergency meeting in Ghana: “If we do not provide the support to stop the transmission, other countries will get infected as well.”
And that was what happened. According to reports, a Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who travelled to Lagos by flight, had developed a fever, with vomiting and diarrhoea and was rushed to a private hospital where it was later found that he had Ebola virus. He died within a few days. His sister had also died of Ebola.
The first outbreak of Ebola virus (EBOV) in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), the virus has affected many other sub-Saharan African countries among them Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and now Nigeria. Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) causes host immunosuppression, with high viremia, leading to multiorgan failure. The case fatality rate is as high as 90 per cent. There have been more than 600 deaths since the current outbreak.
There are five species of Ebola virus, four native to Africa and one to the Philippines. Ebola virus is a zoonotic. They live quietly among the wildlife species, and from there cause harm to humans, and disappear again. You can only get Ebola virus from coming in direct contact with someone with the virus, and with bodily fluids. This is why the only way to curtail outbreaks is by isolation and barrier nursing, and carefully dealing with patients and careful handling of corpses, using gowns, medical gloves, rubber boots, goggles, and body bags.
We must head off an epidemic – and possibly a pandemic. We must identify the reservoir host. It was thought that chimpanzees were the reservoir host, but as they too are also killed by the virus, they are not. We suspect three species of fruit bat. We must kill all of them, whether infected or not, or else we would be the endangered species!
Ebola virus is more common among poor Africans with deep cultural adherence who can’t afford beef and poultry and resort only to hunting bats, and other forms of wild animal for meat.
Although there is no treatment, a drug, favipiravir, has been tried against Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV) in Vitro and in Vivo. And has shown promise in suppressing replication of the virus in mice. But there are still bottlenecks before it can be tried on humans.
Perhaps, the best hope lies in a vaccine. To be sure, there have been vaccine candidates among vectored vaccines, DNA vaccine, and virus-like particles-based which all have shown efficacy in non-human primate models of the EHF. But the vaccines have not undergone trial. And ethically, vaccines cannot be used unless they have gone through a trial, and then approved.
The usual practice where anyone who has a fever does self-medication including taking herbal medication may not work any longer. Anyone with a fever should seek medical attention. It may not be “malaria and typhoid”.
The grim reality that we now have a disease with no known treatment in our midst is terrifying. Ebola is more dangerous to humans as specie than a terrorist bomb. It can spread rapidly with devastating effects if not curtailed. Insecurity compounds our weak health care system.
All those who have issues with the Nigerian state must for the sake of all of us – including they themselves, work together to fight this new threat.
This is the time to stop further bombings of fellow Nigerians, a common deadly enemy has visited our land.
Bringing in foreign nationals to come through our porous borders in other to bomb Nigerians may be a deadly idea. They may be carrying the virus! With better security, there is greater hope of dealing with the Ebola virus.
Also, our health care facilities must have the right equipment and adequate number of well-trained manpower to deal with the challenge. There is also the need to develop a rapid test for Ebola virus, so that cases won’t go undetected, as autopsy is not a common practice in our culture.[eap_ad_2]
We must be able to collaborate and share information and other forms of technology in tracking the virus. Medical doctors should work hand in hand with veterinary doctors. This is not the best time for doctors to be on strike. We hope that a lasting solution is found quickly so that they can go back to work.