Close to a fortnight ago, Africa woke up to the news of the outbreak of the very deadly "Ebola virus". I first learned of the outbreak from a Radio station in Enugu state,southeast of Nigeria, but as of then,it was still being looked at as a flash in the pan and the popular advice then was for some states that eat bat in Nigeria to stop doing that as many believed eating bat was the sole cause of the disease. Throughout this stage,little did we know that the disease has gained foothold in some West African countries including Guinea, which is believed to be the country of origin of this new outbreak.

Since then,many deaths have been recorded and more cases been confirmed but what's more worrisome here is the rate at which this disease is spreading across the west African coast. Outside Guinea Mali,Liberia and Sierra Leone are also affected by this outbreak as some cases have been confirmed in these countries.

Now,the danger being posed by this outbreak of 'Ebola' is disappointingly two-fold. One is that the outbreak took people and concerned authorities unawares hence there was/is no provision for vaccines which would have helped in slowing down the spread. Two,is that the outbreak may prove difficult to contain owing to the lack of precise treatment/vaccines for the disease and this implies that many more cases may be on the cards and you can't but pity this helpless situation.

Here in Nigeria, just last week, the news broke of a suspected case of 'Ebola virus' in Nasarawa state Northern Nigeria, but the news has since been dismissed by the minister for health Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu as "not true and should be
discountenanced" while other reports suggest that the suspected case may well be Dengue fever.

However, another source of worry for me here is the believe of locals that the disease is easily contracted through eating bats and bush meats. People in my community and country at large enjoy eating bush meats owing to its preferred good and natural taste and now, people in the local community are being advised against eating bush meats and bats. It is not yet clear what the exact cause of the disease is but going by the some beliefs that it is contracted via eating bush meats or interacting with wild animals,it certainly does not bold well for our environment especially our wildlife and bushes as some people may start clearing/burning bushes close by in their quest to unleash attacks on wildlife. This certainly will not benefit mother earth and such is what I want avoided. Let us save the remaining green land we have, we cannot afford to burn some more.
Let us join hands in eliminating this threat and here is hoping that this disease does not find its way to Nigeria.

You may find this report on the disease interesting www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/01/guinea-ebola-outbreak-whats-being-done-explained