The survivors
I was transfixed by this series of photos of Liberians who have survived bouts of ebola. We don’t tend to think of that group, but it’s a large one, although unfortunately not as large as those who’ve died from the disease.
Many of the survivors have lost whole families—spouses and children—and contracted ebola while caring for them. And yet many report being shunned now, as though they were still contagious, even though they are not. No wonder so many have eyes that look so sad. They have lived through a horrific experience, and the pain continues.
Some, however, are working at the hospitals, counseling and supporting other patients who are ill with ebola, and giving them hope that they might live through the experience.
Here are two of those survivors who are hard at work helping others:
What eloquent faces many of them have. The one that really got to me was the ER doctor in the checked shirt — his eyes.
Victoria Masah said:
“She said her husband and two children died of Ebola.”
As I recall, several days ago, Neo linked to a site which among other things said that we know Ebola is hard to contract since children are not getting sick. I the captions with the pictures are representative of the general population, that is not the case, children commonly catch Ebola.
Yes, the entire spectrum of emotions is laid bare for all to see. A close brush with our mortality has to be a life changing event.
What I am curious about is… are they still vulnerable to the disease?
As to being spurned, they are suggesting survivors use protection, if they engage in sex, for 120 days. I am not sure, as terrible as the disease is, and how little seems to truly be known about it, that survivors shouldn’t be… studied, and watched closely. If you lose your whole family to this, perhaps most of the people you know, then we will discuss precautions, what is superstition, what is reasonable, and what is not, about potential vectors.
I don’t want any of them here. Then we can discuss assistance, and create protocols for people who go there. Should they become ill, they have to stay there. Choices.
Doom:
They are apparently, as far as we can tell, immune to the strain of ebola they have had. There are different strains, though, and we don’t know whether they are immune to those strains, too. Some people also appear to be naturally immune. Much more here.
I think it’s almost impossible for us to imagine what those people have been through. This from an email sent from a doctor at the University of North Carolina who was in Guinea for a few months earlier this year gives a glimpse:
“A 2010 study published by the French research organization IRD found that as much as 15.3 percent of Gabon’s population could be immune to Ebola.”
There may be a sizeable group of people who have a natural immunity to Ebola, but this study does not directly address that issue. Neo’s link cross links to the following article:
http://en.ird.fr/the-media-centre/scientific-newssheets/337-possible-natural-immunity-to-ebola
According to these articles, the natural reservoir species is probably the fruit bat. Because 15.3% of the population have antibodies but have never been symptomatic they have a “natural immunity.” A more likely hypothesis is that the Ebola shed by bats is generally not able to cause a serious infection in humans. However, through repeated exposures to Ebola adapted to bats, humans eventually come into contact with a mutant Ebola virion which is more adapted to exploit the human physiology and can cause severe illness or death in humans. Whether there are humans who are naturally immune to the new mutant strain and how many there might be is still up for grabs.
I can’t help but be impressed by people who remain productive in the face of overwhelming tragedy. A truly remarkable, invincible spirit.
I can not imagine the horror and sense of helplessness the people of ebolalandia are experiencing. Which is why I want the borders shut tight. In country aid, as much as it takes, but the borders closed tighter than a clam.
Even though it has been around for decades and, according to one doctor today on TV, there have been seven major outbreaks during that time, from what I can judge we still do not have complete and definitive information about of this very deadly hemorrhagic fever.
So, we are reduced to picking up what seem to be true and useful bits and pieces of the puzzle from the chaotic, spotty blizzard of information, and trying to piece them together.
Because of the variations between individuals and how they react to the Ebola virus, in a recent report, some doctors thought that instead of the standard of a maximum 21 day incubation period for a possible infection to develop, a 31 day period was much safer.
Another report I happened to see said that people who had recovered from Ebola often shed the virus for months afterwards. Are they still somewhat contagious? Who knows?
Then, there was the story of a couple of days ago, indicating that some–all? Ebola survivors might face various adverse health aftereffects from the virus for the rest of their lives.
The sad thing is that from the many mentions of this fact in open literature, it appears that in past decades U.S. Army bio warfare people studied such hemorrhagic fevers, like Marburg and Ebola, as potential biowarfare agents. Isn’t it likely that they would already have compiled a complete workup and dossier on Ebola in classified form that would answer all of our questions with a fair amount of certainty?
On the other hand, it appears that there are several strains of Ebola, and it may be that Ebola is so mutation prone that it changes characteristics rather frequently and quickly, so that what is true about Ebola, or a particular strain of Ebola today may not be true about it tomorrow.
Parker, yes.
The cruelty of this disease is that when it touched them, it also touched just about everyone they knew. They’ve gone through an apocalypse.
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