When yellow fever knocks on Malawi’s neighbours
I generally like to get latest news both locally and globally. It’s important for every human being to know what is happening around them. News forms part of our environment and we get affected in many ways, both positively if we get to know what we needed to know and, of course, negatively if you miss a piece of news which you find later that you needed to know of that information.
That’s why I encourage most of my colleagues to at least expose themselves to some form of news sources. Nowadays, there are plenty, most common are newspapers and television news broadcasts, including Internet available on most smart phones. That’s the reason the first channel I tune to after I wake up is usually a news channel. There is, however, a local TV channel whose news I don’t tune to any more.
For obvious reasons, it has become boring and monotonous to the extent that I don’t benefit anything from their news. Internationally, I usually tune to CNN, BBC and eNCA. I surely benefit a lot. I also make sure that I don’t miss each day’s edition of our two dailies. When I miss one, I try my best to search for it until I peruse through the contents.
It was a fortnight ago, while watching eNCA after enjoying the attempted impeachment of president Jacob Zuma of South Africa, that an interesting piece of news was aired on the channel. Basically, the news was that Zambia, Malawi’s neighbour was put on alert for an outbreak of yellow fever. Now, let me state here that there are many people who don’t know what yellow fever really is.
There are a good number of people I have met and tried to educate after I realised that they generally confuse yellow fever with jaundice due to malaria or liver problems among other causes.
One time, I heard someone telling his friend about a person they knew, whom he said had yellow fever. Ooooh! My foot. I told him to immediately alert the Ministry of Health so that the World Health Organisation (WHO) should be informed to investigate and confirm the case so that proper measures could be taken.
Basically, the victim had malaria and had developed jaundice as an effect of breakdown of red blood cells by malaria parasites, thereby increasing levels of bilirubin (bile) in the blood making some body parts look yellowish. Ladies and gentlemen, yellow fever is one of the most dangerous diseases.
Here are a few facts for your information: It is an acute, meaning fast developing, infectious disease caused by viruses which are transmitted by mosquitoes of the group, Aedes Egypt, which I already argued in the other week’s issue that we have in Malawi.
It is characterised by sudden onset of fever, rigors, headache, nausea, vomiting, jaundice, and sometimes signs of liver and kidney failure.
Once yellow fever is introduced in a country it can be disastrous because it can spread rapidly. Out of every 100 people suffering from yellow fever, 30 of them are more likely to die.
Now, I hope our friends in the Ministry of Health have heard about the alert which Zambia was given. Moreover, Malawi and Zambia are just too near and most hospitals in Mchinji and Mzimba receive more patients from Zambia. As for my friends who casually confuse someone with jaundice thinking he/she has yellow fever, please stop that. Now you know. Yellow fever is deadly and no one wants it here in Malawi.n
With michael chimalizaFeedback: mchimaliza@yahoo.co.uk
