Today, I got several
surprising news.
First of all, the Democratic
Republic (DR) of Congo confirmed 2 Ebola deaths yesterday. DR Congo is located
in Central Africa, which borders Tanzania to the East. What’s more surprising
was that the cases in DR Congo are unrelated to Ebola outbreak in West Africa
that has claimed more than 1,400 people’s lives so far. This is the 7th
epidemic of Ebola only in Congo. Ebola virus was first discovered in Zaire, the
old country name of DR Congo, in 1976. What does this new Ebola epidemic in DR
Congo tell us? During 40 years of history, Ebola epidemic has occurred
continually, especially 7 times in the same country, DR Congo. The important
thing is that we have to try to profit by our mistakes. Even if DR Congo may
have acquired experience to contain Ebola virus from the 6 previous Ebola
epidemics and have capacity to handle with that, how can we explain the reality
that the same disease in the same place has been occurred over and over again
until now? The best policy is not to contain the disease quickly, but to
prevent a recurrence of the disease. Ebola in Africa repeats a routine
endlessly and goes round and round, just like a hamster run in tread wheel
again and again. From now, I really hope we will be able to break the Ebola
vicious circle.
< Ebola outbreak in DRC: same virus, but different>
Second news is that cholera
outbreak has been killed at least 67 people in Ghana since June, mostly in the
capital city, Accra, and more than 5,000 people has been infected. Everyday,
around new 300 people are still being infected. West Africa is never quiet;
Ebola plus Cholera make West African countries I was surprised to hear that
cholera outbreak has occurred in the one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies,
Ghana, because this contagious disease is caused by unclean water, poor
sanitation and hygiene. If most of the cholera victim cases have occurred in
the capital city, how can we see the hygiene situation in the rural area? It
seems like just yesterday that I visited community every night to conduct
nutrition education and distribute soap to community people in Ghana. It was
actually 2 years ago. Maybe, (No, it should be…) they had already used soap I
gave, and I believe they must have received another one from the next year
public health team. I was wondering how Allyson in Ghana was doing, so I said “Be careful of Cholera!” to her on
Skype.
“Ya, I am trying! I hate touching the money etc
these days - worried I'm going to get sick! You heard about it all the way in
Tanzania?”
Africa is suffering from
many diseases; Ebola and Cholera are the top epidemic now. Many endemic diseases in Africa are brushed aside. Either endemic or epidemic, diseases are always here in Africa. So, all people in Africa
are also exposed to all kinds of neglected tropical diseases as well as familiar diseases. What
should we do? Please do remember. Wash your hands with soap! You can prevent up
to 70% of all kinds of waterborne diseases, including possibly Ebola as well.
<Ghana cholera outbreak
kills 67, infects 5,000: health officials>
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