EBOLA: JULIETH SAVES HER MOTHER'S LIFE

Ebola is a virus that was identified in western Africa place South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. The largest outbreak occurred in Dec 2013 to Jan 2016 with 28,646 cases and 11,323 deaths. My name is Juliet and this is how my village survived Ebola. 

My grandfather was not well a

few days pass he got worse and worse, he had a really bad fever and he was so weak, we thought it was malaria but it got worse he had been vomiting and diarrhea his fever got worse. I ran to get a nurse but it was too late. Grandfather was already dead my heart was broken. The nurse thought it might be Ebola. It spread from person to person and some people in our village have already died of this new disease. Unless we understand the disease and follow the rules it can spread to a lot of people. It is transmitted through people and wild animals such as fruit bats, porcupines, and non-human primates. The nurse explained Ebola is caused by severe bleeding organ failure and can lead to death. But it can spread also through human contact with bodily fluids such as blood, the fluid of someone who is sick or die of Ebola the sweat, saliva (kissing or shared drinks), tears, urine, diarrhea, vomit, breastfeed, sexual fluid and blood. When we touch a sick person fluid the Ebola germs can get into small breaks and enter our skin, eyes, nose or mouth the Ebola germs spread into our body and make us sick. Also, it can spread by animal, insect, stings, blood products (unclean or unscreened blood)

When someone dies of Ebola that body is much more contagious and no one should touch the body. The nurse advised us to wash hands with soap and water right away to avoid the infection. She contacted the burial team to bury my grandfather safely. The burial team came they comforted us and explained want to do to protect us. The team wore protective clothing that kept them safe from the germs. They sprayed the grandfather's room and his body with chlorine to destroy the Ebola germs then they put his body safely in the bag to prevent the spread of Ebola. No one can touch the body of the one who died with the disease. They also burnt his clothes, mattress, and bed anything that may have his germs all these actions made us safer it was to great risk to follow all our traditional but we still honor our grandfather in the time of Ebola.

Our chief gathered all the villagers together after grandfather's death. He explained its natural for us to fear Ebola but if we trust our health workers and follow their rules we could stop the diseases. The nurse explained if someone has symptoms like fever, headaches, muscle pain, and chills later on a person may experience internal bleeding, nausea, eye redness, mental confusion, red spot on skin or sore throat resulting in vomiting or coughing blood the pain will be in areas like chest abdomen, joints, or muscles. Also, you should not touch them but take them directly to the hospital they will have the best chance of surviving and they won’t spread Ebola. She advised us to wash our hands with soap and water many times a day. All the villages agree to follow these rules since we are the one who had contact with grandfather we are all at risk of getting Ebola we had to stay home the health worker visited as every day to see if we have fever or signs of sickness we will show signs in 21days if we have Ebola.

Many days passed and I thought we will all stay healthy but one morning my mother was burning with fever she was so contagious I could not touch her. My father came in he told me he was taking my mother to my uncle’s house in the nearby village he was afraid of taking her to the health center afraid he won’t see her again. I knew I had to stop them I was young but I stood up to both of them I told them this could be Ebola he must go to the treatment center right away. We need to trust our health workers to save them and save ourselves and save our village. I saw in their faces they understood running away will only lead to more death and suffering. My mother was tested positive for Ebola they found her a bed at first the health workers looked scared but I knew they wore suits to protect themselves and inside they were normally people like them. The nurse took good care of my mother they gave her iv-fluid, food, oxygen therapy and medicine (delivering fluids, medication or blood directly into a vein) and helped her body to stay strong. My mother got better day by day and finally, she was released because she got well. Our villagers followed the instructions trusted the health workers, brought as self-care and called burial when one of us dies and to always wash our hands with soap and water. Our village survived Ebola so can yours.

In July31st, 2019 a total of 2,713 people infected including 1,823 deaths.

Now Ebola has infected 28,616 cases with 11,310 deaths.

It is thought that fruit bats of the pteropodidae (a family of fruits bats) family are natural Ebola, virus hosts.

This article was published on The Hill Observer September Edition.