First of all Ebola is a very serious disease, caused by a virus, which causes internal parts of the body to lose blood and usually ends in death. And this virus transfers from body contact of infected person and also through body fluids. As we write this news, the outbreak has now killed more than 2,160 people in West Africa, but one of the hardest hit countries (Sierra Leone) should never have been affected at all, except for one woman who claimed powers to heal the devastating disease with herbal potions, drawing Ebola victims over the border from Guinea to Sierra Leone. Health officials in Sierra Leone said that Ebola sufferers streamed across the border to avail themselves of the woman’s alleged healing services, only to spread Ebola there. The 2014 Ebola outbreak, the worst in known history, began in Guinea in late 2013.
“She was claiming to have powers to heal Ebola, Cases from Guinea were crossing into Sierra Leone for treatment,” said Mohamed Vandi, a Sierra Leone medical officer to the French AFP news service.
The self-proclaimed herbal healer soon, not surprisingly, contracted Ebola herself, which claimed her life. But the Ebola virus commonly spreads from contact with corpses, especially in cultures with a tradition of touching the dead at their memorial services. “She got infected and died,” Vandi said. “During her funeral, women around the other towns got infected.”
Those women who came to the eastern Sierra Leone border village of Sokoma to attend the funeral of the popular healer then carried the virus — which can gestate inside the human body for up to three weeks before an infected person shows any symptoms — back to their own towns, setting off an epidemic that has so far killed 365 people just in Sierra Leone, a tiny country whose entire population barely tops 6 million.
There have been a total of 1548 cases in the country, a faster pace of infection than neighboring Guinea where the Ebola outbreak originated. Despite a population almost 4 million greater than that ofSierra Leone, Guinea has seen 394 deaths from 543 cases.
The World Health Organization has cautioned Ebola victims against seeking out “alternative” cures, which simply do not exist in reality.
“Another source of public misunderstanding, especially in affected areas, comes from rumors on social media claiming that certain products or practices can prevent or cure Ebola virus disease,” the WHO said in a statement. “Decades of scientific research have failed to find a curative or preventive agent of proven safety and effectiveness in humans, though a number of promising products are currently under development.” By mid June the epidemic had spread and reached the town of Lunsar, Portloko district located in the northern part of Sierra Leone. The virus was confirmed in a patient admitted as suspicious to St John of God Catholic Hospital. To date there are over 100 confirmed cases in the district making it the fourth highest in the country? In view of serious health crisis situation, the emergency protocol strives to put measures in place to prevent the appearance of secondary cases. In Lunsar ,it’s still a controversial issue as EVD deaths here are also related to spell craft and swear particularly with the cases of the Mabesseneh staff dying as it is alleged that a bag was stolen from a patient and the swear is killing the staff of Mabesseneh and not the EVD. This also has worsen the situation as the cultural beliefs are always at par with the present views held about EVD, These are on looker at the main Portloko road in Lunsar outside the residence of the speaker of the Marampa Chiefdom, a big city in the Portloko District, waiting for the hearing of the investigation of the witch craft Plane crash alleged to be responsible for the several deaths in the Marampa Mines compound a suburb where several people have died also. This is an attestation to the fact that ignorance and the denial factor in the fight to combat the EVD is proving difficult and until and unless community education is intensified we are still a little far to combat the epidemic and pandemic in west Africa.
LEGGI LO SPECIALE SULL'EMERGENZA EBOLA IN SIERRA LEONE