Ebola survivor calls for compassion as fear and anxiety spread over Ebola outbreak

Twelve years ago, on a hot summer morning in Monrovia, Liberia, Dr. Kent Brantley woke up with an upset stomach.

“I was praying that it wasn’t Ebola,” he recalls. Because of similar symptoms, he thought it might be malaria.

He described the fear he felt when a colleague broke the news through the barrier of his bedroom window that he had tested positive for Ebola.

He called his wife as he processed the results.

“I was apologizing because I thought I was going to die, and I was so sad to be leaving my wife and two young children,” Brantley said.

He survived after receiving treatment in Liberia. Priority access to treatments — and he took refuge in the United States. the first person in the country received treatment for illness. more than half In the 2014 outbreak, all Ebola patients died.

The deadly Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus is currently spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. there is no vaccine. An attack on an Ebola hospital on Thursday has sparked frustration among local residents.

“Ebola is a disease that carries a lot of stigma,” he said.

“I urge governments and people around the world to respond in a calm, thoughtful and considerate manner.”

WATCH | Ebola survivor talks about the challenges of the current epidemic:

What Ebola survivors worry about the latest outbreak

Dr. Kent Brantley is an American doctor who contracted Ebola 12 years ago while caring for patients in Liberia. He said the current outbreak is located on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, making it difficult to contain.

“Caregiver’s illness”

It is still unknown how Brantley contracted the Zaire strain of Ebola. Maybe he was holding the hand of a patient’s daughter in the Ebola treatment room, comforting her about her mother’s illness.

It is sometimes called “caregiver’s disease” because of the risk of infecting health care workers and family members who care for sick people, he said.

The virus also spread from body fluids It has led to conflicts over burial customs, either on the ground or when caring for the remains of the deceased.

almost 600 medical workers He contracted the virus during an outbreak in West Africa in 2014.

“Ebola is a very difficult disease to deal with. There’s a fear factor that spreads panic in the community,” said Brantley, now chief operations officer for the Christian Health Service Corps.

As of Friday, the World Health Organization said nearly everyone had been infected. 750 suspects At least 177 people infected or suspected of death due to the Bundibugyo strain 4 These suspected deaths include health care workers.

Watch | WHO raises regional risk assessment of Ebola outbreak to ‘very high’:

WHO director-general says Ebola outbreak in Congo is ‘expanding rapidly’

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is prompting the organization to change its risk assessment to “very high” at the country level, while keeping the risk at “high” at the regional level and “low” at the global level.

local disturbances

Health officials said the outbreak was located in a border area with high human movement due to mining, making containment more difficult.

a weak medical care Infrastructure and social instability in rural areas armed conflict Health workers are in turmoil and subject to contempt.

“A lot of times there’s a lot of sensationalism and fear-mongering,” Brantley said of what the beginning of an outbreak looks like.

“This outbreak will only become more difficult to contain,” Brantley said.

On Thursday, a crowd set fire to a tent at an Ebola hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The attack came after a family was prevented from burying their son, who apparently died from the virus. Police also fired their weapons to disperse the crowd.

a statement A statement released by the International Alliance for Health Action warns that misinformation spread on the internet and social media is fueling mistrust and violence against health facilities, further straining their ability to provide appropriate care.

other control protocolFull-body personal protective equipment, rapid testing kits, and contact tracing are all critical to reducing transmission.

On Tuesday, the WHO was called in. 12 tons To help improve these possibilities, we provided emergency supplies to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. canadian red cross Workers are now on their way to assist with contact tracing.

“We have to do whatever we can.”

Brantley is grateful to the medical team in Liberia who treated him and conducted the experiments. intravenous treatment Monoclonal antibody known as ZMapp. (Some were developed at the National Institute of Microbiology) winnipeghas never been approved for widespread use. )

This type of treatment has been a privilege inaccessible to those affected by the current epidemic.

There is now Two vaccines and treatments available Because Brantley battled Ebola. Nothing is approved for Bundibugyo virus. The current Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreakalthough some are still in development.

Still, WHO says early care for certain symptoms, such as hydration and supplemental oxygen, may help survival.

“We should be concerned about the well-being of our East African neighbors and how they can be helped,” Brantley said. “We need to do whatever we can to help them.”

Global Affairs Canada said in an email to CBC that as of May 19, there were more than 3,000 Canadians registered in the region. 1 person living in Ontario He was tested after traveling to East Africa.