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Updated: Monday, September 8, 2014 1:39 p.m.
EPIDEMIC Ebola -
In Liberia, we need a clinical coldness to save lives
In Liberia, the country most affected by the epidemic, it's the Red Cross that is facing the difficult task of going door to door to collect the bodies of victims and sterilize their homes.
AFP
Fatimah Jakemah was in late pregnancy when she died of Ebola. In protective gear, officials of the Liberian Red Cross pull the zipper of her body bag and disinfect the house before moving to the next: the epidemic leaves no room for compassion.
"She was 20 and it was the first time she was pregnant," says Paul Gaimu, a neighbor in Banjor, a slum on the outskirts of the capital Monrovia. "When she got sick, her neighbors fled. No one knows where. "
The woman spent days calling for help before her cries died out. "She asked to drink and eat but we were afraid to approach her. Whoever approaches an Ebola patient to help is rejected by the community, "he says.
In Liberia, the country most affected by the epidemic, which accounts for more than half of the 2,000 deaths already recorded, it is for the Red Cross is facing the difficult task of going door to door to collect bodies of the victims and sterilize their homes.
That day in Banjor, the Red Cross came to collect two bodies, but apparently there's more.
Once Fatimah Jakemah evacuated, the head of the district, John Yarngroble shows the team leader, Kiyea Friday, another hut of wood and sheet metal.
A man in his forties, Fatoma Amadu, sick but still alive, is lying at the entrance to his porch, breathing hard.
Two nurses in the anti-bacterial combinations step over him to enter the house where they expect to find the body of an old woman. But they emerge after a few minutes later to say she's still alive.
"We are here only to recover the bodies. Before you call, make sure that the person died. Other people care for the sick, "says Kiyea Friday, lecturing John Yarngroble.
"Yes, sir. We will call you when they are dead. Thank you for coming, "replied the latter in a courteous tone, as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"So many dead"
The team leader of the Red Cross called from her cell phone, in a calm but urgent voice phrase.
"I have two people here in critical condition. Can you send an ambulance? I also need at least six body bags in addition. There are so many dead. I feel awful, sir. The mortality rate is too high, "he express on the phone.
The mission of the Red Cross is called "management of dead bodies," a euphemism that minimizes their importance in preventing the spread.
Mr. Friday asked his men to get back into their ambulances to a house where a father and his son died.
"He recently lost one of his children who was sick at Brewerville," a nearby town, says Mohamed Barbar, a family friend. "Because they are Muslims, he went there to wash the body. Since their return, they are sick and five of them are dead. "
He sent for two sons of the deceased , aged 20 and eight. "These are those who were in contact with them while they were sick," he tells Kiyea Friday that asks the brothers to go for a test in a treatment center.
"We tell you this so that there are no other deaths. You have approached your father and your brother and you cared for them. You must pass a test, "said to them the team of the Red Cross chief.
He shakes his head at their lack of attention and says in a whisper: "Them also look very sick . They need care. "
Ebola victims are at their maximum level of contagion just after death. Traditional funerals involving the washing of bodies criticized in the spread, are now banned.
In five minutes, the team extracted the body of the house and the two surviving brothers burst into tears at the sight of body bags closed.
"Sometimes we pick up more than 15 bodies a day and we are not the only team. I would say that overall the Red Cross recovers from 30 to 50 daily, "says Friday. "People are dying and we do not know when or how it will end"
http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=dmf20140908_00525098
Updated: Monday, September 8, 2014 1:39 p.m.
EPIDEMIC Ebola -
In Liberia, we need a clinical coldness to save lives
In Liberia, the country most affected by the epidemic, it's the Red Cross that is facing the difficult task of going door to door to collect the bodies of victims and sterilize their homes.
AFP
Fatimah Jakemah was in late pregnancy when she died of Ebola. In protective gear, officials of the Liberian Red Cross pull the zipper of her body bag and disinfect the house before moving to the next: the epidemic leaves no room for compassion.
"She was 20 and it was the first time she was pregnant," says Paul Gaimu, a neighbor in Banjor, a slum on the outskirts of the capital Monrovia. "When she got sick, her neighbors fled. No one knows where. "
The woman spent days calling for help before her cries died out. "She asked to drink and eat but we were afraid to approach her. Whoever approaches an Ebola patient to help is rejected by the community, "he says.
In Liberia, the country most affected by the epidemic, which accounts for more than half of the 2,000 deaths already recorded, it is for the Red Cross is facing the difficult task of going door to door to collect bodies of the victims and sterilize their homes.
That day in Banjor, the Red Cross came to collect two bodies, but apparently there's more.
Once Fatimah Jakemah evacuated, the head of the district, John Yarngroble shows the team leader, Kiyea Friday, another hut of wood and sheet metal.
A man in his forties, Fatoma Amadu, sick but still alive, is lying at the entrance to his porch, breathing hard.
Two nurses in the anti-bacterial combinations step over him to enter the house where they expect to find the body of an old woman. But they emerge after a few minutes later to say she's still alive.
"We are here only to recover the bodies. Before you call, make sure that the person died. Other people care for the sick, "says Kiyea Friday, lecturing John Yarngroble.
"Yes, sir. We will call you when they are dead. Thank you for coming, "replied the latter in a courteous tone, as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"So many dead"
The team leader of the Red Cross called from her cell phone, in a calm but urgent voice phrase.
"I have two people here in critical condition. Can you send an ambulance? I also need at least six body bags in addition. There are so many dead. I feel awful, sir. The mortality rate is too high, "he express on the phone.
The mission of the Red Cross is called "management of dead bodies," a euphemism that minimizes their importance in preventing the spread.
Mr. Friday asked his men to get back into their ambulances to a house where a father and his son died.
"He recently lost one of his children who was sick at Brewerville," a nearby town, says Mohamed Barbar, a family friend. "Because they are Muslims, he went there to wash the body. Since their return, they are sick and five of them are dead. "
He sent for two sons of the deceased , aged 20 and eight. "These are those who were in contact with them while they were sick," he tells Kiyea Friday that asks the brothers to go for a test in a treatment center.
"We tell you this so that there are no other deaths. You have approached your father and your brother and you cared for them. You must pass a test, "said to them the team of the Red Cross chief.
He shakes his head at their lack of attention and says in a whisper: "Them also look very sick . They need care. "
Ebola victims are at their maximum level of contagion just after death. Traditional funerals involving the washing of bodies criticized in the spread, are now banned.
In five minutes, the team extracted the body of the house and the two surviving brothers burst into tears at the sight of body bags closed.
"Sometimes we pick up more than 15 bodies a day and we are not the only team. I would say that overall the Red Cross recovers from 30 to 50 daily, "says Friday. "People are dying and we do not know when or how it will end"
http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=dmf20140908_00525098