Better to have Ebola virus than to be caught stealing

“Dignity is not negotiable. Dignity is the honor of the family.” Vartan Gregorian

By Alex P. Vidal

SOME people may avoid us if we are infected with Ebola virus, but will sympathize with us nonetheless for humanitarian reasons.

If we are thieves, people will not only avoid us but will also denounce us, stab us in the back and question our culture.

Between having an Ebola disease and being a thief, we prefer the former.

Much better, of course, if we don’t have any contagious disease and with zero criminal record.

Some of us prefer to die of Ebola or others diseases than to live with a tarnished name because of graft and corruption.

In death, there is dignity if our integrity is intact.

In life, we die a thousand times once our dignity has been besmirched by dishonesty and crimes against moral turpitude.

It's better to suffer instant death than to continue living and pretending as if everything is normal even after we were caught in flagrante delicto with our hands in the cookie jar.
Acting Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin should not begrudge critics who expressed “worries” when she and Armed Forces chief-of-staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang went to Caballo Island to visit quarantined Filipino peacekeepers, who arrived from Ebola-hit Nigeria early this month, without wearing protective masks as required by the World Health Organization (WHO).

ACCEPT

If we were Loreto-Garin, we would gamely accept the criticisms without showing any emotion, and prove those Doubting Thomases wrong.

How? Assure them that if she shows some signs of Ebola infection, she would resign immediately and isolate herself for medication before going to an exile in an island.

Loreto-Garin, 42, should also prove to all and sundry that she is not a corrupt public official; and it’s OK to die anytime as long as her name and the legacy of the Loretos of Leyte and the Garins of Iloilo are preserved and not tainted.  

Meanwhile, when she attended the senate budget deliberations on November 24, Loreto-Garin was not treated shabbily.

In fact, Senators Bongbong Marcos and Bambam Aquino kissed her and shook her hand.

It was Senator Tito Sotto III who first expressed alarm and even requested Loreto-Garin, Catapang and others who went with them in the island to undergo quarantine.

He was among the senators who refused to come near Loreto-Garin during the budget hearing.

REACTIONS

Loreto-Garin appeared panicky in her initial reactions when the unprotected visit tumult erupted last week: “I am not perfect. I might have lapses. But in critical situations like this, I will not do it without proper protocol on the proper guidance of the experts.”

She added: "People were asking, why not wait for the 21st day. If you wait for the 21st day, the decisions needed that time cannot be made."

The DOH has repeatedly announced that Ebola virus is not contagious unless an infected person showed symptoms.

The peacekeepers on Caballo Island have been cleared of the virus and are just undergoing quarantine as part of protocol.

The symptoms of Ebola include fever, muscle pain, headache and sore throat followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash and in some cases internal and external bleeding, reported the WHO.

Did Loreto-Garin inherit top post of graft-ridden DOH?

“Money and corruption are ruining the land. Crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep.” Ray Davies

By Alex P. Vidal

IS the Department of Health (DOH) a goldmine?

Indeed nobody walks a saint in government service.

Some of the appointed officials we thought to be doyens of public service turn out to be crooks themselves and no better than some corrupt elected officials.

Both elected and appointed public officials have always been tempted and tainted by the glitters of gold in the public treasury.

With the alleged involvement of Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona and Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag in the so-called “DOH vaccines mess”, it’s doubtful if Ona, on leave since October 29, will be back in his post soon.

If he has delicadeza, Ona should quit.

Ditto for Tayag, who thinks people will just forget his misdemeanors if he dances like a bloated clown.

Acting Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin remains to be one of the only few DOH bigwigs with immaculate record.

So far, Loreto-Garin has been doing a fine job as acting secretary for almost three weeks now.

We hope she maintains this reputation now that her fellow DOH officials appear to be heading to the Hall of Shame.

INVESTIGATION

Unknown to most of us, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been investigating since June the DOH's purchase of expensive vaccines in 2012 despite a recommendation to buy more cost-effective ones.

This was confirmed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima who disclosed on November 10 that the NBI has been conducting an investigation into the procurement by the DOH of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine 10 (PCV 10).

This is reportedly “contrary to the recommendation of the National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM), the Formulary Executive Council (FEC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) which recommended PCV 13 which is said to be more cost-effective.”

The 2012 procurement for the vaccines was reportedly upon the "direction" of Tayag and "made possible by a certificate of exemption issued by Secretary Ona."

DOCTOR

If DOH is graft-ridden, Loreto-Garin, a doctor by profession and originally from Baybay, Leyte before she became Iloilo first district representative from 2004-2013, has a lot of adjustments to do.

For sure she is still being surrounded by some subalterns whose reputation reeks with suspicions of dishonesty owing to the culture that permeates the DOH.

Even if Ona and Tayag will be given the boot (which is doubtful given the snail pace of investigation on officials charged with graft and corruption in this country), there are still remnants of scoundrels in the department.

No one can underestimate the tentacles of corrupt officials in any government office nationwide.

Loreto-Garin, 42, trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology, can save the DOH from the abyss with her pristine record in public service that dates back when she became Iloilo provincial board member in 2001.

APPOINT

She was appointed by President Noynoy Aquino as undersecretary on women, children and family health last year.

Although the grapevine says her appointment was an offshoot of a political horse-trading among Liberal Party (LP) giants (Tupas and Garinc clans) in Iloilo, Loreto-Garin’s qualifications as a three-termer solon where she pressed for the Cheaper Medicines Act, the Reproductive Health Bill, Amendment to the Physicians Act, among other health measures, reportedly gave weight to her appointment in the DOH.

With her family’s vast wealth, Loreto-Garin does not need to steal.

She comes from a rich family in Leyte and her husband, Iloilo first district Rep. Richard Garin, is a multi-millionaire son of a billionaire semi-retired politician, Oscar Garin, Sr., the political kingpin of Iloilo’s first district that comprises the municipalities of Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Miag-ao, Tubungan, Igbaras, and San Joaquin.

Is it the real McCoy in the prophesy?

“The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by human parasite.” Richard Preston, The Hot Zone

By Alex P. Vidal

WHEN he was still alive sometime in 2002, Dr. Rodolfo Jara-Mesa of La Paz, Iloilo City, handed me a photocopied article from the Reader’s Digest that predicted the coming of a “serious” and deadly disease which he feared might decimate humanity “in the near future”.

I asked him if he or the article was referring to the HIV disease, a virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). 

Dr. Jara-Mesa flatly said no.

Too bad I could not anymore find that article.

Like malaria and tuberculosis which nearly erased humanity some 600 to 800 years ago before medicine came up with a breakthrough to neutralize them in the 20^th century, Dr. Jara-Mesa believed scientists would soon be able to discover the antidote to AIDS.

What could be that “serious” disease the article was referring to, doc?

Dr. Jara-Mesa admitted he had no idea.

The article, he explained, based the purported prophesy on the rapid population growth, poverty and lack of access to medicine, especially in famine-stricken countries like Africa and other so-called Third World countries.

VIRUS

When Dr. Jara-Mesa passed away in 2003, Ebola, otherwise known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), was already wreaking havoc in Sudan and Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Dr. Jara-Mesa had no inkling that 11 years later, Ebola would take the entire universe by storm and is, in fact, now threatening to wipe us out—unless a vaccine will soon be developed to arrest it and prevent a feared epidemic.

Ebola actually was first detected in 1976 and the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 1,716 cases since that year until 2013.

Ebola became a global sensation in the heels of ongoing and the largest outbreak in West African Ebola outbreak, which is affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria.

It has reached the United States and Canada, which is now moving heaven and earth to prevent the disease from invading the North America.

More than 4,000 cases have been reported worldwide as of press time, and the number is feared to increase, cautioned the WHO.

FACTS

These are the key facts of Ebola, according to the WHO:

-Ebola Virus Dease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.

-The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

-The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.

-The first EVD outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests, but the most recent outbreak in West Africa has involved major urban as well as rural areas.

-Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks.

Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilization.

-Early supportive care with rehydration, symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is as yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralize the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.

-There are currently no licensed Ebola vaccines but 2 potential candidates are undergoing evaluation.

SYMPTOMS

Do we feel some of the symptoms provided by health authorities?

The incubation period, the WHO explained, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is 2 to 21 days.

Humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms.

First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. 

This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding (e.g. oozing from the gums, blood in the stools).

Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.

Let’s hope the article given by Dr. Jara-Mesa 12 years ago had nothing to do with Ebola.

Judging from the way our health authorities worldwide panic, we hate to think that Ebola is the real McCoy in as far as the alleged prophesy in the Reader’s Digest article is concerned.

Chikungunya? Help!

“It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has.” William Osler

By Alex P. Vidal

If indeed it is true that there was a suspected outbreak of Chikungunya disease in five Iloilo towns, then there is reason for us to press the panic button.

By all means, we need help! No more beating around the bush.

Help should come from the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) which originally coined the viral disease (genus Alphavirus) transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes--including Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

The almost 300 suspected cases of chikungunya were all detected in the five Iloilo towns, according to Iloilo Provincial Health Office (PHO) assistant head, Dr. Ma. Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon, who monitored several patients in the towns of Guimbal, Oton, Carles, Tigbauan and Igbaras.

She said the patients manifested symptoms of chikungunya.

“Most of them were reported to have headache and joint pains which are the symptoms of chikungunya. It was followed by two days of fever and rashes,” Quiñon said as quoted by reporter Louine Hope Conserva.

FATAL

How deadly is chikungunya? Is it as fatal as the, Ebola, SARS and HIV?

The WHO explained that the name chikungunya originates from a verb in the Kimakonde language, meaning “to become contorted”. This refers to the “stooped” appearance of those suffering with joint pain.

Symptoms reportedly appear between four and seven days after the patient has been bitten by the infected mosquito and these include: High fever (40°C/ 104°F), joint pain (lower back, ankle, knees, wrists or phalanges), joint swelling, rash, headache, muscle pain, nausea, and fatigue.

Chikungunya is rarely fatal, confirmed the WHO. Symptoms are generally self-limiting and last for two to three days.

The virus remains in the human system for five to seven days and mosquitoes feeding on an infected person during this period can also become infected, according to the WHO.

Chikungunya shares some clinical signs with dengue and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common, it adds.

Chikungunya can reportedly be detected using serological tests. Recovery from an infection will confer life-long immunity.

Chikungunya has been identified in nearly 40 countries. Countries having documented, endemic, or epidemic chikungunya are:

Asia: Human chikungunya virus infection has been documented in Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Réunion, Seychelles, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Africa: Chikungunya occurs in Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Europe and the Americas: Aside from minor incidence rates caused by imported cases from travelers, Italy is the only European country which has had an outbreak. The Americas have not had any major outbreaks so far.

IDENTIFIED

The WHO confirmed that chikungunya was first identified in Tanzania in the early 1952 and has caused periodic outbreaks in Asia and Africa since the 1960s.

Outbreaks are reportedly often separated by periods of more than 10 years. Between 2001 and 2011, a number of countries reported on chikungunya outbreaks.

2005-2006: More than 272 000 people were infected during an outbreak of Chikungunya in the Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius where Ae. albopictus was the presumed vector.

2006: Outbreak in India, more than 1 500 000 cases of chikungunya were reported with Ae. aegypti implicated as the vector.

2007: Migration of infected people introduced the infection in a coastal village in Italy. This outbreak (197 cases) confirmed that mosquito-borne outbreaks by Ae. albopictus are plausible in Europe.

AREAS

The WHO said in areas where the vector of chikungunya is Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus, vector prevention and control can be combined with dengue control efforts.

Conserva quoted Quiñon as saying, “Most of them were reported to have headache and joint pains which are the symptoms of chikungunya. It was followed by two days of fever and rashes.”

Carles reportedly recorded 102 cases, Oton has 20 cases, Tigbauan with 43 and Ibaras with 118.

Conserva reported further that Quiñon has advised residents in affected areas to practice the 4S Kontra Dengue (Search and Destroy, Seek early consultation, Self-protective measures and Say no to indiscriminate fogging) to combat chikungunya or submit themselves to isolation if they believe they contracted German measles.

A collective effort is needed to fight the disease. Let’s always make it a top priority to clean our surroundings. After all, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.