Past week World was traumatised by tales of inhuman brutality
and rampant fanaticism where 132 innocent lives were nipped as buds in Peshawar
by the armed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. Similar brutal mindset led
to beheading of 150 women most of them pregnant as they refused jihadi marriages in the Iraqi province
of Al Anbar. Against the background of the grotesque and gruesome display of
barbarity, the indomitable courage, fearlessness and exemplary humanity would
be a humbling experience to recall. Time person of the year “Ebola Fighters”
truly deserve the honour, respect for the exemplary display of heroism and
sacrifice. Armed with bleach and a prayer they have turned around the obnoxious
scourge of Ebola into a conquerable malady. The altruistic group includes the
special forces of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the
Christian medical-relief workers of Samaritan’s Purse, local doctors, nurses,
ambulance drivers, burial teams and volunteers from all over the World.
Ebola made its first appearance in December 2013 and catastrophic
effect of Ebola collapsed the economy of three West African countries- Liberian
Sierra Leone and Guinea. Previous attacks were reported in remote Central
Africa. But this time, cities and bustling shanties came under attack due to
the porous between the cities and country side. As infected people began
queuing before the local hospitals, the doctors who weren’t akin to the
symptoms, modes of transmission and treatment mistook it for the common malaise
malaria. But as the symptoms aggravated into uncontrolled vomiting, torrential diarrhoea,
organ bleeding and sometimes death local doctors were appalled.
Initially, Doctors of Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) in
Liberia, rose to the occasion converted a chapel into hospital to quarantine
infected patients. They began treating patients by donning protective gear.
With their meagre resources and funds the doctors trained staff and stock piled
bleach. They anticipated that government would shrug off lethargy and set up
Ebola treatment facility. But in fact, the governments of all the three nations
virtually did nothing. For initial months the army of health workers,
volunteers and doctors crusaded against Ebola.
The first reported case of Ebola was registered in rural
Guinea in December 2013. Ebola has glaringly exposed the fustian African
governments, smug western powers and defrauding bureaucrats. National and
global health agencies waited for five months to acknowledge even the intensity
of the disaster. Health Ministries ignored the warnings of the doctors. WHO
turned away pre-emptive offer of help from Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention’s (CDC) which could have contained the galloping spread of Ebola and
saved billions of dollars. By March, petrified by the extent of the viral
penetration and spread, the MSF, a medical relief organisation in the World,
which was honoured with Noble Prize in 1999 for its commitment to deliver
quality care, raised alarm. Doctors from across the World began to trickle into
Guinea. But the locals were very hostile to the foreigners and even stoned
their vehicles. To stem the rampant suspicion among the locals, doctors
summoned local priests, village leaders and translators to educate people about
Ebola and to get the extent of spread of the disease.
By June the region was grappling under the ghastly spread of
Ebola. Being poverty stricken, all these countries has poor health
infrastructure and people lived in woefully unhygienic shanties. Since Ebola is
transmitted through body fluids, all the web individuals who touched would be
infected. Preventing the contagion was an insurmountable task as it involved
treating not only the patient with visible symptoms but tracing all his people
who touched them and keeping them in observation for 21 days. Dogged
investigation was needed to locate the contacts. It was a chain reaction and
people were soon overwhelmed by fear, shame and ignorance. As death rates began
to mount, health workers were frightened by the lurking presence of Ebola.
There was ever increasing demand for trained doctors, nurses, support staff,
diagnostic laboratories and supplies. It was not until end of July did the West
ring the panic button when an American contracted Ebola in Liberia. Soon US
troops built treatment units at an unprecedented pace. Meanwhile with no sign
of local or international help frustration grew among MSF who lashed out at UN
headquarters. In response UN dispatched an international team for Ebola
mission, World Bank pledged funds and WHO declared emergency in August.
The health workers and volunteers had a gruelling routine.
They worked for 12-14 hrs shifts, six days a week under the killing heat
donning a non-absorbent suit, fogged up goggles, attending patients moaning in
pain and all this demanded a tornado of energy. As deaths toll began to roll on
ordinary citizens whose lives were devastated by the loss of their families and
friends emerged as saviours. Having undergone the pain of losing a dear one
with officials fleeing to safe havens men and women became Ebola fighters by
converting schools into disaster-response centres, holding meetings, organising
food distribution and setting ambulance services. The myriad heroic tales of extraordinary
service and sacrifice sustained the fight against the dangerous disease.
Though the crisis is not over, incidence has come down. The
clinics which initially used to turn down the patients dooming them to misery
and death are now housing them in containment facilities. Even the vaccine
trials are fast tracked and Ebola diagnostic techniques have become quicker and
reliable. Survival rates too have improved. People who used to consult
traditional healers are now walking into ETUs. The relentless and untiring
efforts of volunteers, doctors and aid workers infused a new hope into
governments who were ill prepared to meet quell the epidemic of Ebola.
The Ebola virus (Zaire strain) was first discovered in 1976
by Belgian microbiologist Dr. Peter Piot. The discovery remained unnoticed
until the hyperbolic story of Robert Preston’s book The Hot Zone in 1995 shook
American consciousness. The mysterious disease with dreadful symptoms had a
reference to the Ebola virus. Coincidentally around the same time a defector
from the Soviet Union’s bio weapons facility testified before the US congress
about his government’s plans of using Ebola as a possible biological weapon.
Shortly, US Army plummeted research on Ebola which resulted in development of a
drug TKM- Ebola and a vaccine which were successfully tested against monkeys. Drug
companies, for the lack of incentive failed to evince interest and mass
production was never taken up. Over the years scientists unravelled the
functions of seven glycoproteins of Ebola virus and sequenced the genome.
Unfortunately it failed to yield any clue and the researcher who worked on it
contacted infection and lost his life. Undeterred by failures during studies on
Ebola, scientists took up the challenge and vowed to save lives.
Beyond all these considerations, TIME has bestowed the
coveted honour on Ebola fighters as a gratitude towards those who willingly and
eagerly took up the job no one wished to do. These fighters whole heartedly
embraced death to save lives of strangers, who repaid them with hatred. It was
ode to the unsung heroes who were exposed to unfathomable grief and in spite of
giving best of efforts they felt it was never enough. Victory is still miles
away. This won’t be the last epidemic. But the important lessons learnt were: to
be better prepared, less fearful and less reactive. Hope the next time when any
tragedy looms people would emulate the spirit of these fighters and surmount
it.
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