Early reports of possible Ebola outbreak
Hundreds of thousands of people in Eastern Africa have been isolated
to prevent the spread of a new outbreak of what some are saying is
Ebola, although this is not yet confirmed by health authorities.
The cluster of Ebola-like cases was confirmed last week in a district
40 kilometres from the capital of the Democratic Republic of
South-Zaire. Last year at least two hundred people were killed by a
relatively benign hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola.
Ebola is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in
1976 in Congo and is named after the river where it was recognised.
There is no cure or vaccine for it. Ebola is characterised by fever,
headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat and weakness, followed
quickly by diarrhea, vomiting, severe stomach pain, and aggressive
internal and external bleeding.
The latest outbreak, Health officials say, could be of the extremely
virulent Sudan strain of the virus. Officials advised against panic
but added that while Ebola is not yet the confirmed cause of the
deaths, significant precautionary measures such as national
quarantines and evacuations should be effected immediately.
Survivors, by Salo Maa Neco, is the story of Aleks, his friends and
all the inhabitants of a seductively peaceful Mediterranean island.
Six years ago they survived the global pandemic that killed millions,
and then billions. Entire populations died. But the islanders survived
and then they thrived. Until an elegant schooner appeared in their
harbour. And a man called Abraham came ashore.
They were farmers and fishermen and vintners and beekeepers. They
played chess in the town square, they drank wine as the sun set gently
into the sea, and they went to church. What did they know about
guerrilla street-fighting and weaponry? Old Mrs Odak made lavender
soap and lemonade. Would she fire a shotgun? Would Father Marco shoot
a little girl to save us?
Come. Sit with me. We'll share a bottle of earthy red wine and a plate
of dried figs. The sun's setting. The scent of lemon blossom is
floating on the warm evening breeze. Let me tell you a story of an
apocalyptic disease, of survival, of the sensual fragrance of
flowering rosemary, of them and us, of the Devil himself, and of the
boy Father Marco told me to take care of until his parents came.
You like a good story, don't you?