October 2014 - Ebola is spreading in Sierra Leone
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In February/March 2014, ebola stroke first in Guinea, and in May penetrated in Liberia and in the South East of Sierra Leone with some cases in Nigeria and Senegal while there is also an unrelated epidemic in Congo. In the meantime, the epidemic in Nigeria and Senegal have been declared over by WHO.
In Sierra Leone, Health Authorities were caught unprepared to face the emergency. People were not informed about the seriousness of the disease. The government was hardly able to take the right lines of action. The first measure was to quarantine the infected families but this created the problems of the safe burial of the corpses and of delivering food to the survivors. Gradually, the first testing and treatment centers, although largely insufficient, were installed in the South East and in Freetown, but the Northern Districts, to which in the meantime the epidemic was moving, were left behind. |
Infection of Health Care Workers ( the most precious resource), was and continues to be an alarming feature. According to WHO, about 100 of them have died “on the field” in Sierra Leone, among them a Doctor considered the best virologist in the Country.
Presently almost the entire population is either quarantined, or not allowed to leave their own chiefdoms. Most of the confirmed cases and deaths, apart from Freetown, are reported in the Districts of Bombali, Port Loko, Tonkolili, Moyamba, the first three belonging to the Diocese of Makeni.
Diocese and University of Makeni, supported by the Saint Lawrence Foundation with all its possible resources, have immediately mobilized by sending trained personnel even to the distant villages to inform people and deliver hygiene kits, with Radio Maria very much helping with its transmissions. In the Holy Spirit Hospital, isolations centers were established. The hospital continues to treat outpatients affected by other diseases, but it was not yet possible to install a specialized ebola testing center that is indispensable. Food and water were delivered to quarantined families. Burial squads were organized and help given even to government agencies. However, to continue and complete the interventions (among them also the re-opening of the second Diocese's Hospital, closed for deaths or lack of personnel), many additional resources are necessary.
The great challenge is against time and it must be faced by intensifying and organizing the response to the deadly virus. There is not much time left to eradicate it. According to the latest WHO’s Report, the cumulative number of cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone amounts to about 10000, and the number of deaths to about 5000, whereas, in Sierra Leone, about 3800 cases and about 1300 deaths have been reported. However such figures, based on the official statistics of the single Health Ministries, are considered as largely understated. A qualified USA source (CDC – Diseases Control and Prevention Center) has estimated, so far, a total of about 20.000 cases. The same researchers have foreseen a dreadful scenario of up to 1.4 million cases by January 2015, if no radical improvement in checking the epidemic takes place shortly. And also USA and Europe, where some isolated cases where already reported and many people are being monitored, might be hit.
Owing to this epidemic, the Foundation was forced to a temporary halt of all its projects and planned initiatives, until complete defeat of the virus. All Foundations resources where concentrated on giving every possible help in the fight against the epidemic. However we never cease to work in order to be prepared for resuming our implementation and planning activity.
UPDATE September 2015
The peak of epidemic was reached in October- November 2014, and then the situation started slowly to get under control. At the end of December, the number of new infection cases was halved and it was clear that the risk of a dramatic spreading scenario had been averted.
Until the end of December, with the help of all its friends, the Foundation has transferred to the Diocese of Makeni the amount of Euro 36,000 and additional 20,000 Euro in January 2015. In December, the Foundation organized the transport to Makeni, at its own expenses, of two ambulances loaded with drugs and protective clothes, a gift of Associazione Amici della Sierra Leone of Parma.
The Diocese’s Holy Spirit Hospital has been refurbished and the indispensable ebola-testing Laboratory activated. It is an advanced Biodiagnostic Laboratory capable a of testing also other viruses. It will be an opportunity as a Training and Research Center for the Public Health School of UNIMAK.. The Department for hospitalization of non-ebola patients has been reopened.
The number of new infection cases has been progressively dropping. In the last two months only few isolated cases were recorded and their transmission chain reconstructed. However the Country is not yet ebola-free and people are being instructed to remain vigilant and to keep practicing safe behaviors. According to the rules of World Health Organization, the D-Day can be declared only when every district will have recorded a resilient zero cases for 42 days. It is difficult to make a forecast but this is expected to happen not before November.
Presently almost the entire population is either quarantined, or not allowed to leave their own chiefdoms. Most of the confirmed cases and deaths, apart from Freetown, are reported in the Districts of Bombali, Port Loko, Tonkolili, Moyamba, the first three belonging to the Diocese of Makeni.
Diocese and University of Makeni, supported by the Saint Lawrence Foundation with all its possible resources, have immediately mobilized by sending trained personnel even to the distant villages to inform people and deliver hygiene kits, with Radio Maria very much helping with its transmissions. In the Holy Spirit Hospital, isolations centers were established. The hospital continues to treat outpatients affected by other diseases, but it was not yet possible to install a specialized ebola testing center that is indispensable. Food and water were delivered to quarantined families. Burial squads were organized and help given even to government agencies. However, to continue and complete the interventions (among them also the re-opening of the second Diocese's Hospital, closed for deaths or lack of personnel), many additional resources are necessary.
The great challenge is against time and it must be faced by intensifying and organizing the response to the deadly virus. There is not much time left to eradicate it. According to the latest WHO’s Report, the cumulative number of cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone amounts to about 10000, and the number of deaths to about 5000, whereas, in Sierra Leone, about 3800 cases and about 1300 deaths have been reported. However such figures, based on the official statistics of the single Health Ministries, are considered as largely understated. A qualified USA source (CDC – Diseases Control and Prevention Center) has estimated, so far, a total of about 20.000 cases. The same researchers have foreseen a dreadful scenario of up to 1.4 million cases by January 2015, if no radical improvement in checking the epidemic takes place shortly. And also USA and Europe, where some isolated cases where already reported and many people are being monitored, might be hit.
Owing to this epidemic, the Foundation was forced to a temporary halt of all its projects and planned initiatives, until complete defeat of the virus. All Foundations resources where concentrated on giving every possible help in the fight against the epidemic. However we never cease to work in order to be prepared for resuming our implementation and planning activity.
UPDATE September 2015
The peak of epidemic was reached in October- November 2014, and then the situation started slowly to get under control. At the end of December, the number of new infection cases was halved and it was clear that the risk of a dramatic spreading scenario had been averted.
Until the end of December, with the help of all its friends, the Foundation has transferred to the Diocese of Makeni the amount of Euro 36,000 and additional 20,000 Euro in January 2015. In December, the Foundation organized the transport to Makeni, at its own expenses, of two ambulances loaded with drugs and protective clothes, a gift of Associazione Amici della Sierra Leone of Parma.
The Diocese’s Holy Spirit Hospital has been refurbished and the indispensable ebola-testing Laboratory activated. It is an advanced Biodiagnostic Laboratory capable a of testing also other viruses. It will be an opportunity as a Training and Research Center for the Public Health School of UNIMAK.. The Department for hospitalization of non-ebola patients has been reopened.
The number of new infection cases has been progressively dropping. In the last two months only few isolated cases were recorded and their transmission chain reconstructed. However the Country is not yet ebola-free and people are being instructed to remain vigilant and to keep practicing safe behaviors. According to the rules of World Health Organization, the D-Day can be declared only when every district will have recorded a resilient zero cases for 42 days. It is difficult to make a forecast but this is expected to happen not before November.