Posted on 04/20/2005 7:59:50 PM PDT by Judith Anne
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
LUANDA, 18 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - Traditional funeral rites in Angola are putting the families of Marburg victims at risk of contracting the killer virus.
For most Angolan families, preparing the body, and kissing and embracing the deceased loved one are integral to bidding a final farewell. But the secretions from a body increase after death, making such practices highly dangerous in the case of a Marburg-related death.
"We're just telling them: 'please don't touch [suspect corpses]'; 'you cannot touch them - call in the specialised groups from the nearest health unit and let them deal with the corpse because you can get very easily contaminated if you try to touch them'," the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) communication assistant, Celso Malavoloneke, told IRIN.
The death toll from the epidemic - the world's worst to date - now stood at 235 of a total of 257 known cases.
In northern Uige province - the epicentre of the Marburg crisis - medical teams had been dispatched to people's homes when alerted to a suspected case or death.
Information was being disseminated via radio and television advertisements, traditional leaders and healers, churches and mobile teams of 'activists', telling people how to spot a suspected case of Marburg and to alert the health authorities immediately, and advising family members on how to care for the sick and protect themselves from the Ebola-like fever.
This included wearing masks and gloves, or using strong plastic bags without holes if gloves were not available.
Malavoloneke said passing on the message about how to care for the sick or bid farewell to the deceased while protecting oneself was not always easy.
"We know it's hard, and that's where the cultural challenge comes: we're all parents and it would be very hard for someone to tell you not to touch your own child if he is sick," he pointed out.
"You know that all these African societies are very much tied to ancestry, and also the way you treat deceased beloved ones; for the people here not to be able to pay their last tribute and respect to deceased beloved ones - that's particularly hard," he added.
Overcoming deep-rooted traditions remained the biggest challenge, according to health ministry officials.
Although Uige's provincial hospital now had a fully equipped and staffed isolation unit, many families were still 'hiding' the sick at home.
Medical workers said there was widespread mistrust of the isolation unit, in part because the Marburg mortality rate of more than 90 percent meant the sick did not return home once they were admitted.
World Health Organisation epidemiologist Francois Libama said he had hope that the epidemic could be stamped out, despite the rising death toll.
"If we succeed in managing all the cases and the funerals, we'll start reducing the risk of transmission," he told IRIN.
"In the case of an epidemic it's impossible to say how many days or months lie ahead, but I believe in the days to come we will have more hope," Libama added. "I believe a day will come when we will see the end of the tunnel."
That's right virus' don't kill themselves but they can burn out or reach a dead end no?
Oh hush now. Beter people should die than feel their culture has been slighted.
The problem is that in Uige, there are over 200,000 people living in a "city" with no sanitation, no running water, no medical supplies, no doctors, no protection at all. Not like rural village breakouts, before...
God help us, I hope not.
In this case, it's a little more than "slighting" their culture--the methods initially used by the WHO personnel actually contributed to the spread of the disease, by making people reluctant to speak out--WHO was inexcusably stupid, in my opinion.
If there are any WHO personnel reading this--shame on you! What were you thinking?????
The worst part is that the virus is likely out of control and in the general community. How could there ever be an accurate count?
It would surprise me if any more numbers approaching accurate ever came out of any organization now working in Angola...
I'm still looking for a confirmed, admitted, published case outside Angola.
I agree. We really have no idea how many cases there are in Angola, in Uige, in Luanda, etc.
And judging from last year's experience with SARS, I doubt we ever will know.
Again, I just wait for the first confirmed case outside Angola.
Some health officials have made the point that the initial symptoms of Marburg could resemble cholera or malaria--true. But nothing says that a person who is living with another disease will not get Marburg, as well. Those who DO have another disease should STILL be tested for Marburg, otherwise, health officials are irresponsible.
That's the understatment of the year.
The 277 dead were only in Uigi province, not deaths over all.
There also have to be some active cases not yet dead.
The net discrepancy is not 11 cases, it is probably closer to, what, 50???
S.Africa says suspected Marburg case is malaria
21 Apr 2005 10:51:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
JOHANNESBURG, April 21 (Reuters) - A sick Angolan traveller under observation in South Africa as a possible victim of the deadly Marburg virus has been determined to be suffering from malaria,
Looks that way to me too.
With SARS we had a reasonable level of confidence in the data from most places except China. I have no confidence whatsoever in any of the numbers coming from Angola. I doubt that the Angolan government has any idea how many victims there are, and even if they did I do not think they would release any negative information.
I do not think secrecy is in any way justified, but I can see how they would consider it essential to avoid panic. They have already admitted the key points:
1. Thus far, no one has recovered. In other words, this variant of Marburg is 100% fatal.
2. The number of cases is still rising.
3. The government does not know how many cases there are, and certainly does not know all the people who may have been exposed. The bug is out of the box.
At one point I thought we would know if Uige was ravaged, no matter how hard the Angolan government tried to keep the lid on. However, why are we not seeing current news reports from people on the scene in Uige? Has the time come to start asking why not?
BTW: The efforts to control Marburg look like too little, too late. But I'm still hopeful that the virus will prove to be genetically unstable enough to burn itself out after multiple generations. Ebola is known to burn out in this way and this version of Marburg may also. However, this seems to be a new variant of Marburg, and nothing I have read so far indicates this is happening.
Here is a recombinomics.com link that advises us of two radio programs discussing Avian Flu/Marburg.
http://www.recombinomics.com/in_the_news.html
This is an FYI notice, if anyone listens, please post the information you get from the program(s). Thanks in advance...
My concern now is based on the seeming lack of updates.
Psychologically, if they were indeed controlling it, you can bet we'd be getting updates up the arse telling us how successful they were, they'd be throwing their shoulders out patting themselves on the back.
(And I'm going a bit overboard, I realize this is a very dangerous endevor and if they control it they deserve all the kudos they can get).
Even if the number of deaths/suspected cases were small, I think they'd be touting that.
The WHOLE ball of wax changed when they pulled the little re-classification stunt.
Face it, entire villages could be wiped out, and if the CDC or whoever confirms one single case there, even though it's known to locals and med units onsite that everyone died from Marburg, it would get reported to us as one single case.
So we have to keep our eye on it. And I hope they are stressing as much as possible the safe handling/containment of the deceased.
This thing, and Ebola too, seem to follow the wet season. Has anybody been checking mosquitos?
What happened to the person in South Africa that was taken off a plane/from the airport(?) and taken to isolation yesterday?
| Angola in good way to stop Marburg outbreak: WHO |
|
LUANDA, April 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organization (WHO)has said that "Angola is in a good way to stop Marburg Outbreak" as the transmission of Marburg virus limited in the northeastern province of Uige. In a press release available here on Thursday, the WHO disclosed the UN agency, the Angolan Ministry of Health and the Center of Disease Control (CDC)/ Atlanta of United States in Angola participated in a video satellite hook-up on Tuesday with the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington (CSIS) to discuss the global efforts to control the Marburg Outbreak since it was confirmed on March 22. So far, the outbreak of the Ebola-like virus claimed 239 lives out of a total of 266 suspected cases. "Our teams are more capable and more confident than at the beginning and we hope that soon we will be able to stop this Marburg outbreak," said Angolan Deputy Minister of Health Van-Dunem during the video conference. According to him, the main concern is to sensitize people on the risks of transmission through sick people and dead bodies at home, once a lot of them are seeking for traditional healers to betreated. The deputy minister of health regretted once again for the death on a traditional healer, this week, in Uige province, urging that many more could die if they do not protect themselves with appropriate protective equipment. In some parts of Angola, ritual burial ceremonies involve touching and washing the naked body. Dr. Fatoumata Diallo, the WHO representative in Angola, said "Our efforts are focused on Uige and in the remaining seven provinces of high risk of transmission (such as Cabinda, Zaire, Bengo, Kwanza-Norte, Malanje, Luanda-Norte and Lunda-Sul). She added that in all these provinces, the efforts are being done to reinforce the system of active surveillance, local capacity building and a network of basic health services near the communities. "Our interventions will be focused on coordination of efforts of all partners involved in the field, training of personnel for active search of suspected cases, case management, infection control and social mobilization," underlined the WHO representative. Dr. Fatoumata Diallo also reminded that "WHO sent to Uige two anthropologists who are supporting the provincial authorities to respond to overall issues related to funerals and other social andcultural issues that could obstruct the outbreak control. The chief of the CDC/Atlanta laboratory team, Dr. Tom Ksiazek, said that samples examined in Luanda and Uige confirm that the focus of the infection was limited to the areas of Uige. Testing done up to date by CDC experts working in the INSP (National Institute for Public Health) in Luanda and in Uige had confirmed atotal of 71 cases of Marburg hemorrhagic fever, from which 69 occurred in the Uige province. The Angolan deputy minister of health said that a lower number of suspected cases were reported in the last few days and if the current trend continues, we believe that we would stop the outbreak. He also calls on all the people who are willing to visit Angola not to fear to come. "There is no reason to fear. Marburg virus only can be transmitted by close contact with fluids of sick person or dead bodies", said Dr. Van-Dunem in reaction to some restrictions to visit Angola during the current outbreak in Uige. The Marburg virus can kill a healthy person in a week by diarrhea and vomiting followed by severe internal bleeding, and isnot treatable with any known drugs. In the last known outbreak of Marburg, 123 people were killed in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2000. Enditem |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.