Mysterious disease again ?
Monday, 27 April 2009
It was reported in a contemporary last Friday that 11 men and women had been affected and three children had died from a 'mysterious' disease in Dhaka's Dhamrai Upazila over the past 20 days or so. Medical experts visiting the two afflicted villages have not yet been able to identify the cause, which reportedly felled animals as well -- three cows and a number of dogs. An eye witness account reveals that the children had been playing in their courtyard on April 17, 2009 when something made them cry out. Then they were seen losing consciousness and foaming at the mouth. Neither the Dhamrai Health Complex nor Dhaka Medical College could save them. Others, both young and old, who were made ill by the unknown ailment are said to be undergoing treatment at various health centres and hospitals. The Dhamrai medical officer said, although it was difficult to pinpoint what exactly caused the deaths and the sicknesses, it seemed to be pesticide poisoning or some kind of virus.
Blood, urine and stool samples have reportedly been collected from about 100 families in the affected villages, by a panel of experts from ICDDRB and the National Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research Institute, who visited the spots. The viscera of the dead children and animals have also been examined and the samples are said to be bound for the US Centre for Disease Control for further study.
Poisoning from pesticides or sickness from other unknown substances -- bugs and drugs included -- happens oftener in Bangladesh than reported. But when the media gets to these incidents, it seems more panic and confusion follow, and people seldom get to know what really hit them. Proper investigation is almost always a casualty in these instances. It appears the available resources in Bangladesh are also not up to the task of carrying out sustained scientific investigation of such phenomena. This unpreparedness is worrying, given the fact that the emergence of new diseases, or old ones mutating and re-emerging, is quite frequently encountered these days. This, according to the Dag Hammarksjold Foundation, can occur naturally and also as part of 'tests' on humans, livestock and crops, as has been revealed by de-classified documents of at least one major chemical and biological weapons-producing country.
Mysterious disease outbreaks have been reported from time to time in many parts of the world, not only Bangladesh. Over the past decade or two, deadly diseases like the plague, ebola fever, rift valley fever, dengue haemorraghic fever -- all on the list of the major biological weapons laboratories of powerful military establishments across the world -- had broken out in Africa and Asia. This is not to say all present-day afflictions are the handiwork of the wicked, but with gene-splicing technology so far advanced, how can one be sure whether or not a disease outbreak is natural or an escapee from the bio-warfare lab of vested interests ? As a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention, Bangladesh has a larger role to play. It must alert the relevant international authorities that monitor the outbreak of unusual or exotic diseases anywhere in the world. And the public must also be kept posted and offered the support necessary to prevent widespread contagion and avoidable deaths.
Blood, urine and stool samples have reportedly been collected from about 100 families in the affected villages, by a panel of experts from ICDDRB and the National Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research Institute, who visited the spots. The viscera of the dead children and animals have also been examined and the samples are said to be bound for the US Centre for Disease Control for further study.
Poisoning from pesticides or sickness from other unknown substances -- bugs and drugs included -- happens oftener in Bangladesh than reported. But when the media gets to these incidents, it seems more panic and confusion follow, and people seldom get to know what really hit them. Proper investigation is almost always a casualty in these instances. It appears the available resources in Bangladesh are also not up to the task of carrying out sustained scientific investigation of such phenomena. This unpreparedness is worrying, given the fact that the emergence of new diseases, or old ones mutating and re-emerging, is quite frequently encountered these days. This, according to the Dag Hammarksjold Foundation, can occur naturally and also as part of 'tests' on humans, livestock and crops, as has been revealed by de-classified documents of at least one major chemical and biological weapons-producing country.
Mysterious disease outbreaks have been reported from time to time in many parts of the world, not only Bangladesh. Over the past decade or two, deadly diseases like the plague, ebola fever, rift valley fever, dengue haemorraghic fever -- all on the list of the major biological weapons laboratories of powerful military establishments across the world -- had broken out in Africa and Asia. This is not to say all present-day afflictions are the handiwork of the wicked, but with gene-splicing technology so far advanced, how can one be sure whether or not a disease outbreak is natural or an escapee from the bio-warfare lab of vested interests ? As a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention, Bangladesh has a larger role to play. It must alert the relevant international authorities that monitor the outbreak of unusual or exotic diseases anywhere in the world. And the public must also be kept posted and offered the support necessary to prevent widespread contagion and avoidable deaths.