The Glow of a Bleeding Moon

Last night I was on night duty.  Having been away from the ETC for a few days, there were quite a number of new patients.  The census rose to 15 with 6 confirmed, 3 probable and 6 suspects.  The little baby boy, now 5 days old, thrived and displayed no symptoms and his first Ebola test was negative.  Probably no one knows the rate of transmission of Ebola in utero or at delivery, hopefully it is not absolute.

In the Confirmed Ward, the pregnant RK continued to be without symptoms and it had been nine days since admission.  It would be wonderful indeed if she happens to be someone with a low viral load and has a mild case of the infection.

The 22-year-old mother of Ishmael and Emmanuel, Aminata also came in with her 5-month-old baby girl Mamakoh; they have all been tested positive.  They are related to Doris's family.  Apparently Aminata’s husband paid a visit to the sick family and probably contracted Ebola and died.  Now his whole family is sickened with it.  Earlier on in the evening Aminata was restless with some nausea but the baby slept next to her without a care in the world.  Aminata and the baby are the sickest, they began to have bloody diarrhea early this morning, sign that does not bode well for them.  Mamakoh and Emmanuel also developed a morbilliforn rash which could be due to Ebola or measles. 

One common theme which has been encountered a few times now is the premature termination of tuberculosis treatment because of the Ebola crisis.  Patients who have been diagnosed with TB at the beginning of the outbreak often find themselves in a situation when they are unable to get their medications as the healthcare facilities where they used to go closed so their treatment is interrupted.  Tejan is such a patient, he started treatment in April and by November he was no longer able to get his TB medications and he has been without them for four months.  I could imagine similar situation with HIV/AIDS.  It makes it more imperative for the outbreak to end and for healthcare facilities to begin to open.

My buddy has worked in this Ebola outbreak for the last seven months now and he said it is very sad that the natural course of the Ebola infection is such that as one walks among the patients lying on the mattresses, one knows perhaps only one out of the four patients may survive.  When hemorrhage begins, survival is even slimmer.

Around six in the morning the round reddish orange moon set; a strange glow seemingly bidding a reluctant farewell to the ETC.