Before we stop Ebola, let’s stop being stupid. I adopted this title from a friend’s tweet. As the salt water bath continued to bring out mixed reaction on social media, he tweeted “#stop ebola,stop being stupid”. The story of Ebola in Nigeria won’t be complete without recounting the stupidity of many people starting with those who woke up in the middle of the night or early hours of the day to bath with salt water. After laughing over the incidence and joining other informed social media commentators to educate Nigerians about Ebola, The sad aspect was the report in Vanguard newspaper that at least 2 dead and 20 hospitalized as a result of excess quantity of salt and kola nut to prevent Ebola virus disease. The other stupid people are the government. The first case of Ebola in West Africa was in march this year in Guinea, then Sierra Leone and Liberia but nobody took precautionary steps to prevent it from coming to Nigeria or be absolutely ready for it if it comes. Till it came and started killing us that the President decided to set up committee. We are lucky that the first case of Ebola in Nigeria is in Lagos where we have a functioning government that will try its best to prevent the disease from spreading (I must say the FG and Lagos state government have so far handled the situation well). Today the normal thing is that every other state is suppose to start preparing, sensitizing the people on radio, television, billboards and even through text messages among others. Since I can’t wait for government to do everything, I will also use this opportunity to educate to the best of my knowledge about Ebola virus disease. Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a very dangerous disease. It kills 60-90% of those infected by it and has no cure. It is highly contagious and it is transmitted from human to human through body fluids like blood, sweat, semen, saliva and other bodily fluids. Indirect contact with environments contaminated by fluids can also cause infection. An Ebola victim experience high and sudden fever, headache, diarrhoea, vomiting, weakness, joint and muscle ache, stomach pain, lack of appetite, sore throat and bleeding. It can be prevented by avoiding unnecessary contact and always washing your hands with soap and water. Keeping a clean environment is important as the virus can’t survive disinfectants, detergent, soap, direct sunlight and heat. Fumigate if you have pests in your environment. It is also very important that we report any suspicion in ourselves or others around us to prevent the spread of the disease. We should also avoid dead bush meat as some of them are reservoirs of the virus. The best we can do is prevent the disease since there is no cure. Salt water bath or eating of kola nuts will not prevent or cure Ebola. Let us take our life in our hands. Let’s stop being stupid.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 09:07:16 +0000
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