Once known as the Zaire Ebola virus, Ebola, a virological species included in the Ebolavirus genus, hit the international headlines this week. The speed at which the disease spread in West Africa was indeed startling, raising questions about the social and political ramifications of the dreaded virus, its abnormally high contamination rates and how to put it in its proper context. As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, an estimated 1,500 people had contracted the disease, claiming the lives of an estimated 1,000. Ebola has a high mortality rate, often between 50 and 90 per cent. The virus is spread between humans by close contact with infected body fluids or through infected needles in hospital. It is for this reason that close relations and those who care for patients are most vulnerable. African societies are also communal by nature, with extended families being the norm, and this in part explains the outbreak's rapid spread. Ebola first appeared in South Sudan and what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. In 1996-97 it surfaced in Gabon, then re-emerging in 2002-2003 in Gabon and Congo. Most of the previous outbreaks of Ebola were in Eastern and Central Africa, and this is the first time the disease has appeared with such ferocity in West Africa. The hemorrhagic fever has hitherto been virtually unknown in West Africa. Villagers in the remote backwaters of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are sometimes loathe to deal with doctors, suspecting that the mysterious disease is the work of the devil and that the doctors may even take corpses to extract human parts for sale. As a result, many bluntly refuse to cooperate with the authorities and with foreign humanitarian workers. The levels of social development and education are especially low, and the three countries concerned are among the continent's poorest and least developed. The result is a human tragedy on a massive scale. The villagers are confronting a danger they cannot explain, and in certain cases the families of the victims have refused to bury them, an abomination in most African cultures for fear that the departed one was bewitched or demonised. In one instance in eastern Sierra Leone, one of the most afflicted areas, the family of the deceased pleaded with neighbours to bury their dead, but the other villagers bluntly declined. World Health Organisation (WHO) head Margaret Chan has praised the task force committed to combating Ebola in Guinea, and she examined different aspects of the emergency regulations promulgated by Liberia and Sierra Leone to meet the outbreak. “The presidents of the countries concerned recognise the serious nature of the Ebola outbreak in their countries,” Chan said. “They are determined to take extraordinary measures to stop Ebola.” Chan was speaking at a meeting convened at the outbreak's epicentre, Guinea, in the capital Conakry. A sum of US$100 million has been set aside for an action plan, though sceptics believe the sum is hopelessly insufficient. Chan herself conceded that it was “woefully inadequate” after her meeting with Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Guinean President Alpha Condé. The outbreak has hit the region at a particularly bad time, though the economic storms that have deluged the region since the days of the slave trade and colonialism, closely followed by neo-colonialism, are nothing new and have never quite cleared. Amid the present gloom, the virus threatens to cut the region off from the outside world. Who would want to travel into a death trap? Ironically, Western missionaries and the colonial authorities used to call this particular corner of Africa “the white man's grave”. Today, it is the indigenous Africans that are subject to disease and death. The Dubai-based Emirates Airline has suspended all flights to Conakry, and scores of Western airlines have temporarily terminated flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The three countries concerned have long been at risk of a disaster of this sort. Underdevelopment is rife and the economies are dependent on the extractive industries. There are no licensed drugs or vaccines that can ease the debilitating symptoms of the disease, though it should not be forgotten that this is often the case for tropical illnesses. Malaria, for instance, kills millions of African children, killing an African child every 30 seconds, and there are other tropical diseases for which little succour is available. Ebola will no doubt top the agenda at this week's Africa-United States summit meeting. Health is the figurehead here, especially when some of the victims are American. This was the case of Kent Bradley, an American aid worker and medical practitioner infected by the Ebola virus, who was promptly rushed back to the United States to receive treatment on Saturday. American humanitarian workers are busy throughout the continent. Nancy Writebol, a medic employed in Liberia, also contracted Ebola and was flown to the US for treatment. In the meantime, Africa is a continent in search of dreams. A fuss over Ebola alone will come to naught. Long-term solutions have to be taken into account: the world cannot just act when a pandemic ravages the continent. African politicians, too, need to espouse a new vision and articulate it to their peoples. In spite of the present grim picture, there is no limit to how far Africa might go.
