The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ebola

  • State House braces against Ebola

    The reality of the outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria is now overwhelming members of staff of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The possibility of its outbreak at the Presidential Villa was conveyed in an Internal Circular last week to all State House personnel by the Chief Physician to the President, Dr. Fortune Fiberesima.

    To avert an outbreak of the disease in the Villa, he said the numerous bats and monkeys in the Aso Rock are part of the animals that have been discovered to be hosts to the disease and have the capacity to spread the deadly disease.

    While monkeys freely move around the Presidential Villa from the thick forest surrounding the Seat of Power, bats sling on almost every tree at the Presidential Villa.

    Faeces of monkeys and bats are common sights on anything or object placed within the State House, including cars parked at the various parking lots.

    Dr. Fiberesima, in the Internal Circular, warned State House personnel against contact with these animals, either dead or alive.

    He also warned them against using hands to clear faeces of the animals on their cars.

    Stressing that hand gloves are available for members of staff on request at the State House Medical Centre (SHMC), he warned car owners in the Villa to water-hose vehicles parked under trees (with or without faeces of animal droppings on them) properly before washing them.

    The circular entitled “Precautionary Measures, Re: Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria”, reads: “In view of the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease and that certain animals (bats and monkeys) have been linked with the virus, the following precautionary measures are deemed necessary: “Avoid physical contact with bats and monkeys, whether dead or alive.

    “Do not pick dead bats and monkeys. Please, immediately notify the Public Health Unit of the State House Medical Centre for proper disposal.

    “Avoid using hands to clear animal droppings (animal faeces) on parked cars.

    “Hand gloves are available at the SHMC on request.

    “Water-hose vehicles parked under trees (with or without animal droppings on them) properly before washing.

    “Sanitise hands or wash your hands with soap and water as often as possible.

    “The aforementioned measures are purely precautionary, in view of the large number of bats and monkeys in the Villa.”

    Apart from photocopies of the circular placed on notice boards at strategic points, copies were also given to many members of staff at the Presidential Villa in order to create enough awareness.

    Among the top government officials listed as the recipients of the internal circular are the Chief of Staff to the President, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice-President, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, All Senior Special Assistants/ Special Assistants to the President and Vice-President, Permanent Secretary of State House, SCOP, ADC, Chief Security Officer, CPSO, Commander of Guards Brigade and the Office of the First Lady.

    Besides the circular, sanitisers are often spread on the palms of members of staff and visitors to the Presidential Villa at some entry points.

    Last Wednesday and Thursday when many people were at the Villa for the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council meetings respectively, some members of staff were positioned with sanitisers to ensure that palms of visitor are purified after handling the door handles.

    To further prevent any outbreak of the disease at the Villa, the management of the State House has also ensured that hygienic hand washing liquid soaps are placed in most toilets in the Villa.

    On Wednesday last week, President Goodluck Jonathan also demonstrated with hygienic hand washing machine against the spread of the disease during a Special Presidential meeting on Ebola Virus at the State House.

    The meeting was attended by state governors, commissioners of health from various states of the federation, Federal Government officials and World Health Organisation Representative in Nigeria.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, spoke against secrecy and non-disclosure of infected person or persons who show symptoms of the disease.

    He said: “This is not the time to make fast Naira. Next week will be defining for us, to know whether cases have multiplied. This is not something you keep in religious house to pray. Infected persons are not patients you can move by taxis. If they need prayers now, it can be done electronically.

    “We are now 99 per cent following the cases. We need to have a 100 per cent because if we have one infected person, it is a global risk not just Nigeria.

    “We have to drop our traditional behaviours like shaking of hands and nobody should be offended. You have to stop defecating and urinating in public, particularly at this time of our challenges.”

    The Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime said: “From the reports of the meeting, it is clear Nigeria has the capacity to fight Ebola virus, but there is need for standardised practice in combating it.”

    We hope that the ongoing efforts at various levels towards tackling the Ebola scourge will not only keep the disease away from the Presidential Villa and all the areas yet to be infected, but will also kick out the disease from the states that are battling with it.

  • Ebola: Lawyer urges caution at NBA conference

    Ebola: Lawyer urges caution at NBA conference

    Lagos  lawyer, Mr. Emeka Nwadioke,has advised the  leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take steps to prevent the spread of Ebola virus at its Annual National Conference (AGC) in Owerri, the Imo State on Sunday.

    In a statement  titled: “Ebola: NBA should take steps to guard participants and others”, he urged the NBA leadership to assess the threats the conference may pose to lawyers and efforts of local and international stakeholders to stem the spread of the disease.

    He noted that the AGC is reputed as the largest gathering of lawyers on earth, with as many as over 10,000.

    “In consistent with the mode of transmission of the Ebola virus, which include direct physical contact with body fluids of an infected person such as blood, saliva, urine and sweat or contact with objects contaminated by these fluids, I urge the NBA leadership not only to put measures in place to

    safeguard participants at the week-long event, but to also critically assess the adequacy of emergency health care measures aimed to protect lawyers, exhibitors and visitors.

    “This is the least that can be done under this grave national emergency. No effort should be spared to contain this potential pandemic that is already affecting the socio-economic and religious life of the nation”, she pleaded.

    Nwadioke stressed: “If the NBA leadership comes to the view that the risk of Ebola virus spread cannot be adequately managed at this time due to inadequate health care facilities and personnel and the inherently electric nature of AGC activities, perhaps a postponement of the conference may be a valid option.”

    He expressed doubts on the ability of the incoming executive to cope with the potential danger posed by the virus on the grounds of negligence by its wilful endangerment of life.

    Nwadioke recalled:”A Nigerian staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) died of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), becoming the third victim of the dreaded virus since its emergence in Nigeria. The latest victim, Jatto Asihu Abdulqudir, a Protocol Assistant at the ECOWAS Liaison Office in Lagos, was among those who assisted the Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, the index case believed to have brought the disease to Nigeria.

    ”Sawyer exhibited symptoms of the disease on arrival in Lagos on July  20 for an ECOWAS Conference, and died on July 25 at a private hospital in Lagos. This latest incident again gives vent to the highly fatal nature of the Ebola virus disease.

    “The Ebola virus has no known cure and up to 90 per cent fatality rate. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for Ebola. Outbreaks can spread rapidly, with an incubation as brief as two days. Therefore, preventing the Ebola virus from spreading remains the best option.”

    He described the virus manner of spreading “as the largest and worst in history, with the death toll now at 1,014 from 1,848 cases. “In Nigeria, 177 primary and secondary contacts of the index case have been placed under surveillance, with nine having developed EVD, bringing the total number of cases in Nigeria to 10. “Of these 10, three have died while seven are  quarantined in Lagos. Further tracing of contacts is ongoing,” she said.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO), she noted, has declared the  outbreak an International Health Emergency requiring extraordinary response in an effort to contain the pandemic and that the organisation has also taken the unusual step by declaring as ethical the use of ZMAPP, an untested and unproven drug, to try and contain the scourge.

    He added: “Though the role of the Federal Government in preventing the emergence of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria remains questionable, it was heart warming to note that the government has followed the WHO example by declaring its outbreak a national emergency.”

    Nwadioke stressed that the Ebola threat is real and the development has explained why many countries have put their health care and ports personnel on the highest alert.

    He recalled that barely a week ago, Ken Isaacs, the spokesman for Samaritan’s Purse, whose two American staff contracted the virus while treating patients in Liberia, warned the United States Congress that Ebola is going to emerge with a fury in Nigeria in about three weeks due to Sawyer’s case.

    The United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Adekoya said, also issued a ‘Level 2 Travel Alert’ on Nigeria, warning travellers to take precautionary measures to minimise their risks of contracting the disease. She pointed out that the above scenario paints a grim picture of the serious hazards posed by the current pandemic in the face of weak healthcare systems and scarce national resources, emphasising that even with less than 15 EVD cases, Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, raised an alarm on the shortage of care-givers to treat Ebola victims by asking for more volunteers.

    The Ebola virus, according to her, poses a serious threat to care-givers, some of whom have died in the process of treating patients adding: “It is, therefore, better imagined than described if the current state of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria is allowed to exacerbate.”

    H said it is expected that all concerned will act in a manner that aids a speedy containment of the Ebola outbreak, saying it was against this backdrop and the forthcoming NBA Annual General Conference (AGC)  that made her to urge the NBA leadership to critically assess the threats posed by the AGC to lawyers.

  • Ebola: ‘We may abandon our ancestral homes’

    Ebola: ‘We may abandon our ancestral homes’

    Residents of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have cried out over the decision of the FCT Administration to site the isolation ward for possible Ebola cases in the FCT in their area.

    Wondering why the administration should take “such a decision that may endanger their lives”, most residents say they would relocate to a different area should there be any case of the virus referred to the isolation ward.

    A resident of Kuje who identified himself as Danjuma said: “I don’t know why the government simply thinks it’s reasonable to force ideas on people. People of Kuje are really afraid and I can assure you that there will be mass relocation from Kuje if a case of Ebola is referred to the area.

    “Some people have vowed not to get close to the General Hospital as soon as they hear the news of an Ebola case.  For me, I will take my family away from there as soon as it happens. I don’t care about anything that the minister has said about safety.”

    The decision to site the isolation ward at Kuje, the authorities say, was part of the proactive measures by the administration to contain the Ebola virus when it crops up, as it does not want to be taken unawares.

    Federal and state governments are working assiduously to ensure that the Ebola virus does not become an epidemic. However, some state governments that have not recorded any case of the virus are also taking necessary measures to contain it should they witness any. This they do by designating part of a tertiary health institution as isolation centres.

    This is the situation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which has created an isolation ward at the Kuje General Hospital.

    At an interactive session on the matter, the FCT Administration noted that after deliberations, it decided that Kuje General Hospital in Kuje Area Council was a suitable location for its isolation ward.

    Unfortunately, the action has petrified residents who see the move as a means of “bringing the disease closer to them.”

    Protesting the decision, the residents noted that the FCT Administration only remembers that they exist when negative issues which no other part of the FCT wants to host crop up. They added that if it is something beneficial, it is taken elsewhere. Citing the Kuje Prisons as one of the projects that are not beneficial to the community, the residents said they pray unceasingly that dangerous criminals in the popular prison do not escape and take them hostage, even as they lamented that they have to contend with the Ebola virus isolation ward in the hospital.

    When the rumour began making the rounds that the ward maybe cited in Kuje, the youth staged a protest to the palace of the Gomo of Kuje, Alhaji Haruna Tanko to register their anger over the purported decision, which they insisted was dangerous to the well-being of the community.

    When the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed confirmed what was once regarded as rumour, the Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Shaban Tete cried out to the Minister at the FCT stakeholder’s interactive forum on the threat of the Ebola disease in the FCT.

    He informed the minister that the residents were scared, even as he suggested that the isolation ward should be sited elsewhere and not Kuje.

    He lamented that the hospital was in the middle of Kuje and any form of an outbreak of the virus will affect everyone in the area council.

    Tete opined that such a ward should not be cited in a General Hospital but in a specialist hospital far away from Kuje.

    His words: “It seems to us in Kuje that we have now become the FCT centre for Ebola virus and both I and the Gomo are afraid. The healthcare centre is in the middle of Kuje and if there is an outbreak there, everyone in Kuje will be affected. “I believe that there are specialist hospitals everywhere. Why locate it in Kuje?”

    After listening to the council boss, the minister said Tete was ignorant, even as he warned him against inciting the youth of the FCT against the administration based on groundless fear.

    Senator Mohammed informed him that all necessary measures will be put in place to ensure that patients who make use of the hospital are safe by not coming in contact with any Ebola patient, if any.

    The minister further informed Tete that the isolation wards will be located behind the hospital with all the safety measures required, adding that patients will not notice the difference.

    He said: “I believe you spoke out of ignorance. You should not have expressed such fears after professionals had explained to you that the virus can only be contracted through physical contact. That hospital in Kuje belongs to the FCT Administration and not your area council.

    “I can assure you that we do not wish to put your people in harm’s way. Even if it means building a place behind and away from the main building, we will do it to ensure your safety. Please, be assured that this is not meant to harm the people of Kuje.

    “Since you said that you don’t want it site in Kuje, where do you want us to take it to? You want us to take it to another place?

    “I don’t like your attitude. You do not like the people of Kuje more than I do and I will do everything to protect them. I learnt that you are trying to insight your youths against the administration and the idea of the isolation ward. We have security measures in place who have informed us of that. I can assure you that no harm will come to you and we will ensure that all safety measures are put in place to avoid any form of outbreak.”

    Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Development Secretariat, Dr Demola Onakomaiya explained that various steps have been taken by the administration to ensure safety of the people, even though no case of the virus has been recorded or confirmed in the FCT.

    His words: “Earlier before now, we had prepositioned personal protective equipment (PPE) in 16 health facilities (both public and private) and one agency in the FCT.

    “Clinical sensitisation with emphasis on heightening their index of suspicion, case management, infection prevention and control are ongoing in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

    “Social mobilisation and health education, promotion and empowerment are ongoing in the media and all communities in the FCT.

    “An active surveillance has been ongoing through the Department of Public Health and it has been responding promptly to calls whenever cases are suspected.

    “An interactive session with the FCT Guild of Medical directors was held on July 9, this year.

    “A place to be used as isolation ward has been identified in Kuje General Hospital awaiting modifications and prepositioning of relevant materials according to guidelines.

    “A rapid response team (RRT) with specific responsibilities has been set up with five sub-groups namely case management and infection control, surveillance, contact tracing and cross-border activities, social mobilisation, logistic, port of entry and letters are being sent to all relevant sectors and the inaugural meeting will hold shortly.”

    Despite these explanations, residents of Kuje are still afraid and wish that the centre is not located in their community.

    In a related development, theChairman of Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Shaban Tete, has rescinded his decision to resist any attempt by the FCT Administration to site an isolation centre for Ebola infected persons in the area, even as he appealed to residents of the area to accept government’s decision.

    Tete overturned his hard stance against the FCTA decision after a meeting with the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and other stakeholders in Abuja on the decision to use Kuje General Hospital as an isolation centre for Ebola victims.

    According to Tete, the appeal became necessary as a result of the wide rejection of the centre by residents of the area who expressed their fears that the virus kills any person infected with it days after infection.

    “We had a meeting with Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed and he made it clear to me that Kuje General Hospital has been designated as an isolation centre. They also explained clearly to me that the disease can only be contracted through body fluid when you come in contact with an infected person.

    “I was assured that that all necessary facilities would be put in place before any infected person would be brought to Kuje. The FCT is currently free from the Ebola virus and we pray that the situation remains like this. I want to encourage residents of Kuje to remain calm and always main high level of personal hygiene.

    “In the meeting, it was concluded that there will be gadgets to monitor people coming in and out of Abuja for safety purposes. When somebody is too scared, he or she can even die before time. I therefore urge Kuje people to go about their normal businesses,” he said.

    He called on all stakeholders to join hands with the government to fight the virus and save lives.

    He urged residents to adhere strictly to government’s healthcare advice, adding that it would help in preventing the spread of the virus.

  • Union urges West Africa to fight Ebola

    The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) West Africa has called on the countries in the sub-region to join forces in the fight against Ebola Virus

    Nigeria is the third nation to declare a national state of emergency announced as the death toll of the devastating Ebola epidemic nears 1,000 people in the region.

    Records show that  the incurable disease which has spread through Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria, has infected over 1,779 people in West Africa.

    A statement by  the Vice-President PALU,  West Africa Mr. Emeka Obegolu reads in part: “The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) West Africa,  notes with grave concern the unmitigated spread of the Ebola virus across the West Africa sub-region leading to the declaration of International Health Emergency by the World Health Organisation today of August 8, 2014.

    “PALU (WA) calls on countries in West Africa to deepen corporation and collaboration in the areas of research, containment and information dissemination on all issues relating to the Ebola virus and spread thereof.

    “PALU (WA) notes the widespread misinformation and sometimes misleading theories spread through the new media and social networks and thereby calls on governments and their agencies to establish dedicated and authoritative source of official briefing of the citizenry on the measures being put in place for containment of the disease and the responsibilities of the citizenry in that regard.

    “We urge the various health agencies in the West Africa sub-region to accord victims of Ebola their dignity as human beings as provided under the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the respective National Laws of member-states.’’

    “We call on the governments of the member states to dedicate human and material resources to medical research as a means of early detection and eradication of such diseases.

    “Finally, PALU calls on citizens to support the effort of all the agencies involved in the fight against Ebola virus and always confirm alleged treatments drugs/herbs with the authorized agencybefore testing the cure or spreading the news”. Obegolu stated.

  • Ebola: FG takes hand washing campaign to parks, markets

    The Federal Government on Monday took its hand washing campaign and sensitization on Ebola virus to the markets and motor parks.

    The government visited the busy Wuse markets and the Jabi Motor parks in Abuja to create awareness on the dreaded disease.

    The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, who spoke in pidgin urged the people to wash their hands constantly with soap and water.

    Ochekpe said the campaign became necessary in other to reduce the spread of the disease.

    She said the Ebola disease had become more deadly than HIV/ AIDS because of its high mortality rate.

    Ochekpe restated the commitment of the government to tackle the disease.

    The disease, she said, has brought sleepless nights to Nigerians.

    She urged the citizens to wash their hands constantly after contact with anything, adding that hand washing will save the people from troubles.

    She said the government will do everything possible to prevent the death of more Nigerians from Ebola.

    “If you don’t wash your hands, Ebola can come in contact with you. It can kill you, your family and an entire village,” she said.

    She called on the people to take hand washing seriously, urging them to keep their environments clean.

    Sanitation, according to the minister will save citizens from dying from disease.

  • WHO wants Ebola-hit countries to screen departing travellers

    WHO wants Ebola-hit countries to screen departing travellers

    Authorities in countries affected by Ebola should check people departing at international airports, seaports and major border crossings and stop any with signs of the virus from traveling, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

    In a statement, the United Nations health agency reiterated that the risk of getting infected with Ebola on an aircraft was small and said there was no need for wider travel or trade restrictions.

    “Affected countries are requested to conduct exit screening of all persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings, for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection.

    Any person with an illness consistent with EVD (Ebola Virus Disease) should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation,” Reuters quoted WHO as saying in the statement.

  • ‘Why FG withheld Ebola drug approval’

    ‘Why FG withheld Ebola drug approval’

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Monday said the Federal government withheld its approval for the Anti-Ebola drug Nano-Silver produced by a Nigerian scientist in the diaspora because it did not meet basic research requirements.

    Chukwu made this known when he received the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, in his office in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the drug was made available to the Emergency Operations Centre in Lagos on August 14.

    “The experimental drug, Nano Silver did not meet the requirements of the National Health Research Ethics Code.

    “Accordingly, the approval was withheld by the National Health Research Ethics Committee,” Chukwu said.

    He said the ambassador’s visit was an opportunity to share ideas and information on Ebola virus.

    “He is the spokesperson for the United States’ government here in Nigeria, and so he came to me as the Chief Public Health Officer of the country to exchange views with me,’’ NAN quoted the minister as saying during the envoy’s visit.

    Prof. Chukwu said Entwistle also visited to know if there was any new development that recently cropped up on the Ebola virus.

    Entwistle had commended the efforts of the Federal Government in curbing the spread of the Ebola virus in the country.

    He said the aim of the visit was to discuss further on the anti-Ebola cooperation between the U.S government and the Nigerian government.

    The ambassador also praised the work done at the emergency operation centre and the isolation centre, saying he understood that they were working hard.

    “You have all seen the headlines over the weekend, this is an issue that we have to keep working hard on, it may be with us for a while but there are some encouraging signs.

    “Your government is doing a good job on contact tracing; I noticed when I flew back here on Thursday night into the country, before I left the plane I filed in the questionnaire.

    “I was very impressed because I had to put in my seat number which is a very good idea, so that if you have to trace the guy who was seating next to me you will know where I am.

    “I have been very impressed by this thing so I encourage the government of Nigeria to keep at it, which I know they will,’’ he said.

    Entwistle said the two countries had a broad partnership to keep collaborating, cooperating and working hard to make the world a better place.

    He said he could not think of a more important example of cooperation than the Ebola cooperation.

  • Ebola: I didn’t mention cured doctor’s name – Minister

    Ebola: I didn’t mention cured doctor’s name – Minister

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu on Sunday in Abuja said he never mentioned Dr. Adadevor as the female doctor who was treated and discharged of Ebola virus as reported by some sections of the media.

    The minister’s reaction is contained in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Mr. Dan Nwomeh.

    “It has been brought to the attention of the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, that the first Nigerian to be diagnosed of Ebola Virus Disease, a female doctor who treated the index case and who was discharged to go home yesterday, is being reported in some of the media to be one Dr. Adadevor.

    “The minister wishes to clarify that the name of the patient is not Dr. Adadevor, this should be noted,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the statement as saying on the matter.

  • 29 Ebola patients escape after attack

    Armed men attacked an Ebola isolation ward in the Liberian capital Monrovia Saturday night, prompting 29 patients to flee the facility, witnesses said yesterday.

    “They broke down the doors and looted the place. The patients all fled,” said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack and whose report was confirmed by residents and the head of Health Workers Association of Liberian, George Williams.

    The Kenyan government at the weekend said it would bar passengers travelling from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

    The suspension is effective midnight tomorrow for all ports of entry for people travelling from or through the countries, said Kenya’s Health Ministry. Nigeria was not included in the ban, which also allows entry to health professionals and Kenyans returning from those countries.

  • Economics of Ebola Virus outbreak

    Economics of Ebola Virus outbreak

    International rating agency Moody’s has warned that besides the death toll, the outbreak will cause “critical commercial and transport disruptions” in the affected West African countries, leading to “significant” economic and fiscal damage, writes CBC News

    In the world of business, there is a saying that markets are driven by fear and greed. As shares in drug companies surge, the Ebola virus has already unleashed the power of greed. And as we watch the coverage of the disease move into what many commentators have labeled irrational hysteria, some people are finding ways to tap the power of fear.

    Joel Kettner of the International Centre for Infectious Diseases in Winnipeg says that when it comes to infectious diseases, fear is not clearly good or clearly bad.

     

    “It can be both,” he says.

    Most medical experts say Ebola’s contagion in the global consciousness has outgrown the disease’s actual risk. One of the people pointing that out is Seth Berkley, head of the GAVI Alliance, a group that promotes developing world health through vaccination.

    “It starts with familiar flu-like symptoms,” he wrote on the BBC Health site. “But within days this can quickly descend into something more exotic and frightening: Vomiting and diarrhoea, followed by bleeding from the gums, the nose and gastrointestinal tract.”

    But the disease Berkley is describing is not Ebola but Dengue shock syndrome. Caused by a mosquito-borne disease, the latter kills about 20 times more people worldwide every year than the confirmed death toll from the current Ebola outbreak (although the numbers are changing constantly).

    Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of Ebola as the latest terrifying plague, its ranking in the death pecking order is negligible. Latest estimates from the World Health Organisation show that, for example, between one and two million people die of AIDS every year.

     

    Fear as motivator

     

    According to Berkley, the reason the developed world fears Ebola despite its low risk of spread in the developed world is that the idea of an untreatable disease is foreign to us and stimulates long-forgotten fears.

    There is no doubt some truth in Berkley’s analysis, but as a participant and a critic of the influence of media on our lives, I don’t think we can absolve the people in my business. During the quiet summer news cycle, the news media are partly implicated in stimulating a disproportionate horror of Ebola, just as they did with H1N1 and SARS.

    Unlike many other commentators, however, I think this could be a good thing.

    And with some reservations, Joel Kettner agrees. Fear is motivating, he says.

    Certainly, in parts of West Africa where the disease is spreading, fear – of hospitals, of western medicine, of neighbours — is part of the problem.

    Fear is closing borders, shutting down trade, seriously damaging local and national economies. Liberian Finance Minister Amara Konneh recently said due to the Ebola outbreak, the country’s growth forecast “is no longer realistic.”

    International rating agency Moody’s has warned that besides the death toll, the outbreak will cause “critical commercial and transport disruptions” in the affected West African countries, leading to “significant” economic and fiscal damage.

    Fear can also help the disease spread. The frantic urge to escape areas where the Ebola virus is present can make it worse. “You’re not leaving the risk behind,” says Kettner. “You’re just carrying it to another location.”

    As a result, Kettner says there is a “reasonable expectation” that people will arrive in Canada or other developed countries who may have been exposed to the virus and won’t get sick until after their return. Fear of that happening is already prompting Canadian health authorities to dust off their preparedness skills, which were learned during the SARS crisis.

    Kettner also observes that global media fears and a sense of crisis have awakened new interest in companies and agencies working on cures and vaccines. Although its shares have fallen from their highs earlier this week, Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals gathered worldwide attention and credibility for its experimental Ebola drug.

    Despite a rollercoaster ride on the market, Tekmira’s shares are still worth nearly twice as much as they were a month ago, giving the company better access to capital to do its work. And Tekmira is not alone. Suddenly, investors are also interested in BioCryst, MAP BioPharma and others because of their “race to combat Ebola.”

     

    The upside of panic

     

    In an article ostensibly telling us to beware trading in Ebola virus stocks, Turney Duff, a former Wall Street trader and author of The Buy Side, actually gives instructions on how to profit from health scares.

    “The last thing you want to do when news breaks is try to find the right stocks to trade,” Duff wrote on CNBC.com. “Back when I was a health-care trader and the SARS virus had the world’s attention, we broke down every sector to see how it could be impacted.”

    Pharmaceutical companies – and those that invest in them – can benefit from outbreaks by creating and selling drugs to fight diseases.

    While critics of the pharmaceutical industry may fulminate against the ethics of profiting from poverty and disease, the fact is, the wave of fear over Ebola means the virus is punching far above its weight compared to other developing country diseases. After all, the pharmaceutical industry is notorious for ignoring diseases of the developing world because poor people can’t pay for expensive drugs.

    But the Ebola scare has actually helped focus minds – and financial resources – on creating treatments that, in a commercial sense, might not justify their development costs.

    Respiratory illness, for instance, kills more than a thousand times more people than Ebola.

    A recent recurrence of one of those respiratory diseases — H1N1, or swine flu — that swept through Canada in 2009 reminds Kettner of another advantage of the fear of disease and the attention it brings.

    “We became aware that the population of First Nations and other aboriginal people, especially those living in remote and northern communities, appeared to be at higher risk for getting severe [cases of the] disease,” says Kettner.

    He said fear in those communities “was a motivation for focusing on the health needs… and quality of health care in those communities.”

     

    Opportunities to

    improve health care

     

    Fear of a new disease is not irrational. Diseases mutate. And while Ebola is not a perfect candidate, epidemiologists know there is a chance that some new strain of bug will ride our integrated transportation system to sweep the world like a modern Black Death. That would be a personal problem for many of us, but it would also be a very big economic problem.

    Kettner observes that the main causes of disease outbreaks that could spread around the world are not germs, but poverty and poor health care.

    “What I hope will happen from the fear that is generated from the Ebola virus is that there will be more attention paid to the health needs of the communities that are at risk,” he says.

    After years of civil war, with poverty, few doctors and abysmal education levels, the people in the worst affected areas of West Africa are poorly equipped to save themselves from a disease like Ebola.

    Maybe it is a good thing for those of us in the developed world to be afraid, to buy into the current hysteria. Because if we don’t commit the resources to stop the outbreak there, maybe, just maybe, Ebola will soon be coming for you.