Chaos in the Country and You Are in It
The Ebola virus outbreak in the coast of Africa was one of the deadliest biological threats to society that the world has ever known.
First of all, what is the Ebola virus? The Ebola virus disease, formerly known as “Ebola Haemorrhagic fever”, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. It is one of the six known viruses with the genus “Ebola”. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and it spreads in the human population through direct contact with human body fluids, such as blood from infected humans.
Contrary to popular belief, the Ebola virus was first identified simultaneously in the year 1976: one case in “Nzara” (a town in south Sudan Africa) and the other in “Yambuku” (Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa) a village close to the Ebola river from which the virus takes its name after. However, it was the year 2014 that the Ebola virus officially became a widespread epidemic and caused panic among people. Ebola outbreak in West Africa began in 2014 in the rural areas of southern Guinea, it spread to the urban areas and moved across borders within weeks and became a global epidemic within months.
I was enjoying a summer with my family in the United States of America when we first heard of the virus outbreak in Africa. As a result of this we, faced intense scrutiny at the airport in America while leaving the country and at the airport back in Nigeria when we arrived. I was extremely shocked to find that that the Nigeria my family and I left just for a month had changed so quickly in our absence.
Getting used to the new security protocols was very difficult for the Nigerian people but as usual we made due with our circumstances. It was a very daunting and worrisome time for the whole nation. However, I was glad that I had two extra months of holiday as the secondary schools were not open schools because they could not run the risk of an Ebola outbreak spreading among the students. Hospitals were overflowing with people that were not sure if they had the virus or not. All public places had upgraded security and were open for only a minimal amount of time during the day. Nigeria during this period was in a state of mass confusion. We all had to avoid human contact as much as possible and only when necessary, be involved in group activities. There was also the stigma and the possibility that you had Ebola or your neighbor next door had the Ebola virus, but did not want to speak up. Henceforth, we all had to be alert.
It truly was a terrifying time for all Nigerians in my opinion, especially for the younger children who didn’t quite grasp the gravity of the situation and a few of the uneducated Nigerians who could not understand why the nation was in a state of upheaval. Nigerians knew one thing, which was that “we all had to tread with caution if we were going to survive the storm”.
The Ebola period was a very scary time for the African people both home and abroad. The Ebola virus infected almost 30 000 people during the 2014–16 West African outbreak and the mortality was initially greater than 70%. The governments of some African nations were under immense stress and pressure from the World Health Organization (WHO) to take certain decisions.
In conclusion, in the middle of the chaos, the loss of lives and the temporary shutdown of the economy, we, the human race learned to help one another and to raise each other up. The first world countries did not close their borders but rather deployed resources to those in need to fight against the virus. Much needed health care facilities were received by countries like America in the coast of Africa. Additionally, the African doctors really proved themselves up to the par to face the challenges posed by the deadly virus. The African nations partnered together to fight the war against the Ebola virus and successfully won, and of this fact I am very proud.
text Adeyeye Mojibola Damilola
edition in english by Gabrielly Castro, Reshma Durai
