Scientists Need To Investigate The Hypothetical Connection Between WAR-TORN AREAS And Ebola Virus

 

 

EBOLA HYPOTHESIS; Why Is It That The Ebola Virus Has Emerged in Previously war-Torn Areas Like Sierra Leone, Ivory coast, Congo, Northern Uganda and Mubende? 

 

·       Scientists Need To Investigate The Hypothetical Connection Between WAR-TORN AREAS And Ebola Virus

·       The Ugandan government needs to swing in action and impose a mini-lockdown on Mubende district.

 

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is expected to address the country today in reaction to the recent emergence of the Ebola virus which has already claimed dozens of lives in parts of Mubende.

The virus which s considered as one of the deadliest has got no immediate cure but the medical fraternity is still fumbling with some vaccines which can prevent but are not certified as yet as the panacea.

The country is gripped with fear with some parents are rushing to retrieve their children from boarding schools to prevent them from contracting the virus. Sensitive citizens have already adopted personal measures to avoid contracting the virus by avoiding Mubende as a destination.

There are justified fears that the country might need a mini-lockdown to mitigate its spread across the country.

THE EBOLA PATHOGEN PATERN  

 

Scientists claim that the Ebola virus is caused by fruit-eating bats which transmits them to monkeys and then to human beings. There are various types of Ebola viruses ranging from the Zaire strain, the Sudan strain and ivory coast strain.

 

A pathogen is a disease causing agent. If its weak then the disease can live long enough to be spread to many people because it cannot kill its victims with immediate effect.

But if the pathogen is strong, it cannot last long enough to spread to very many people because it kills its victims with immediate effect.

What made the covid-19 pandemic take long to stop was because its pathogen is very weak to the extent that it can hibernate in the victim’s body for long enough time to enable him or her spread it to so many other people.

 

In its own right the Ebola pathogen is more deadly than that of the corona virus because its pathogen is so strong that it immediately claims the life of someone who contracts it and therefore get buried with its victim. The fact that the Ebola pathogen is strong is actually a blessing in disguise because makes it difficult to spread expansively because it kills its victim and perishes with it.

Therefore this means that it can confine itself in one area and kill its victims from that particular region without spreading so far and wide.

This makes it a bit containable and less of a threat in that respect.

But the problem is that it’s very contagious to the extent that any contact with the fluids of an infected person or even the dead body of the infected person can lead to immediate infection.

This means that when someone dies of Ebola, you don’t bother to attend the burial or even visit the graveyard as it can lead to immediate infection.

The Ugandan Experience

 This is not the first time Uganda has been hit by the Ebola virus. Some few years ago some parts northern Uganda were badly hit to the extent that we even lost Dr Lukwiya who was directly involved in treating the patients.

After that episode Uganda became an authority on the Ebola virus to the extent that Ugandan doctors were sent to Sierra Leone when it was badly affected.

In the most recent years, our neighbors on the western borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been the known origin of the Ebola virus having contracted it from eating monkey meat on the banks of river Zaire.

However, it’s worth noting that the Congolese are not NECESARILY the only ones who eat monkey meat. There are monkey meat eating communities in the Amazon forests and some parts of Asia but have never contracted Ebola.

In fact most parts of the equatorial forest that stretches to parts of west Africa in countries like Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea , Congo-Brazzaville all have communities that eat monkey meat.

But why is it that Ebola managed to heavily strike Congo, Sierra Leone and Gulu and now Mubende?

This phenomenon has forced me to suggest a hypothetical theory which I want to advance here to the effect that the virus could be having a connection to areas that have undergone wars in the past. And as you know, war directly translates into death of people in big numbers.

For instance Sierra Leone and Liberia suffered a very bad civil war that claimed millions of people in the early days of the 21^st century.

You also need to be reminded that parts of northern Uganda, particularly Gulu underwent a horrible civil war for over twenty years.

While Sierra Leoneans like Corporal Foday Sankoh were killing people in Freetown, Ugandans like Joseph Kony were killing people in northern Uganda. At the same time Ugandan and Rwandan troops exported war to Congo from 1996 up-to-date

When you check the background history of Mubende district, you will find that it was the epicenter of the 1981-86 NRM bush war.

Kabamba barracks which was attacked by Gen Museveni and his group on 6^th February 1981 was a big theater of war.

In addition to that. Mubende district is part of the Bunyoro areas that endured colonial wars between Omukama kabalega and the Britons at the close of the 19^th century.

Now this pattern certainly shows that there is a hypothetical connection between war and the Ebola virus.

It’s safe to speculate further that just like the remains of dinosaurs and human beings are connected to fossil fuel that eventually culminate into oil wells, the Ebola virus might be connected to dead human beings.

 Since the medical fraternity has not been able to discover the vaccines of most of these viruses like Aids, Corona, Zika, Ebola, etc it means that all theories advanced in regard to those viruses must not be dismissed without subjecting them to a thorough medical study.

 The way forward

The Ugandan government needs to swing in action and impose a mini-lockdown on Mubende district.

This means that restrictions of movement of people from and to those affected areas are imposed until the situation returns to normal.

But most of all, Scientists Need To Investigate The Hypothetical Connection Between war-torn areas And the Ebola Virus

 

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a blogger , journalist and policy analyst ;kamwadafred@gmail.com