Ebola- Please Pray

Dear Friends and Family,

Please pray for us and for the people here. We have just received confirmation that the mysterious virus that had been causing deaths up the road from us is Ebola. While we are not in direct contact with any of the patients, nor are we planning to go to the local clinics where such patients are being treated, we are nonetheless pretty freaked out.
Please pray that we would make wise decisions in the next few days about when to leave the district with our four small children. You can find the latest breaking news by google-ing "Ebola Uganda".

Much Love,
JD and Kevin

Below please find further information from our team leaders and doctors, Scott and Jennifer Myhre:

Dear Praying Friends,The mysterious disease that has infected people in Bundibugyo was this morning revealed to be Ebola virus. 79 cases have been identified over the last several months, with 43% dying. So far all cases have come from a village area called Kikyo, which is 25 km from our mission, or through direct prolonged contact with patients from that area. Ebola is a panic-inducing word. We are treating this news with sober respect, but thought we’d put out a few facts proactively.
Ebola is a filovirus. There are four subtypes: Ebola-Zaire, Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Reston. Yes, Reston, the latter is from monkeys who were imported through Dulles Airport, but did not cause any human infection. Our epidemic does not seem to fit any of these four strains and so may represent a new form of the virus. The good news is that it seems to be slightly less virulent.
This is the 17th documented outbreak of Ebola since 1976. Almost all the cases have come from Africa. The most recent Ugandan outbreak was in the north of the country in 2000; the most recent outbreak at all was in DRC Congo from April to October this year.
The patients we are seeing look ill, but not that different from most patients. The Hollywood version is not what we’re seeing. Most people just have fever, vomiting and diarrhea, some with a rash and some with conjunctivitis (eyes red). A few have bleeding.
More than half of people are recovering, with very basic care. We have met with two nurses who took almost a month to pull through but are OK now. The clinical officer Julius who has managed the majority of the patients is OK.
We consider our non-medical team members to be at low risk. The virus has never been documented to spread through the air to infect humans. The mode of transmission is direct contact, touching body fluids or soiled linens or blood, or by contaminated instruments such as needles. Unless this strain is very different from other Ebola strains, people who are not sick do not spread the disease. We won’t contact it in our homes, or in normal daily life.
The health care workers of Bundibugyo are the ones at risk. We want to support them in every way possible, with gloves, masks, bleach, bandages, IV fluids, etc. Thankfully the World Health Organization, the CDC and MSF, organizations with great experience in this kind of epidemic, are aware and will arrive by air tomorrow to help. We as doctors are taking every possible precaution when we see patients to avoid becoming ill.
Our Overseas Director Paul Leary is ready to field any questions about our team (info@whm.org); more medical information can be seen on the CDC web site: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola/qa.htm. I’ll update the blog regularly with more information too. ( http://www.paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/)
Please pray for our doctors and other health workers. Dr. Jonah is in Kampala now, but he saw quite a few cases before he left, as did Dr. Sessanga. Scott has attended to many of these patients already. Pray for us to wisely support the health system in our district, to graciously care for the ill, to be alert to any danger to our team and children, and to advocate for the best possible response that Bundibugyo can receive from international aid workers.Thanks so much for standing with us in this,Love,Jennifer and Scott

Thanks.

The school year is wrapping up, we have finished O-Level exams and are entering the last few days of A-Levels. Our other students are in the midst of end of year exams. A brand new track, thanks to Scott Ickes (and many supporters!), has just been completed. The time between dinner and evening preps finds most of our students out walking and socializing along the new loop as they make their plans for the upcoming school holidays.
Back at home, we are receiving a steady stream of students dropping by to express their thanks and gratitude for Christ School. Yesterday, four guys came by to sit and chat with Kevin. These students have been sponsored since S1 and in the next few days they will finish their sixth year with us. It is a joy and blessing to have been a significant part of their lives. As I looked out the kitchen window yesterday at these four young men with a bright future ahead of them (probably university sponsorship for each of them) sitting on white plastic chairs talking eagerly with their headmaster about their years at CSB, I know that our time here has been well spent.
The theme that continues to be repeated with each meeting, whether male or female seems to be... "I never thought I'd reach this point." Over and over again we hear stories of tramatic childhoods, no possibility for future schooling, just a small tentative hope for a different life and then someone, somewhere suggested they go to Christ School and "see Kevin." They talk about their fears of having nothing but a bit of cleverness and a dream, about showing up for the entrance exam and finding "half of Nyhuka" waiting there. They share their joy and disbelief that they scored well enough to be sponsored, that their names were written on the list.
Now they sit with Kevin, 6 long years later, and discuss their future. He reminds them of where they've come from and their responsibility to give back to the community, to their families and clans. He talks with them about corruption ("When people rush to shake your hand, be careful that they don't pull you into their schemes.") He encourages them to talk with their elders, their fathers, their brothers. He implores them to "keep good behaviours" as they await their exam results. He talks with them about their dreams for university and life beyond.
What a cool thing for Kevin and I to be in such a position. Like our students we shake our heads and proclaim, "What a blessing that we have made it this far." Thank you.

Savannah

Thanks to the many of you who regularly pray for our children! Savannah has been very sick the last few days. There seems to be an illness going around that causes high fevers and convulsions. Thankfully, Jennifer had warned us of how many small children she was seeing at the health center with febrile seizures. We, of course, were worried about Louisa. Instead Savannah began spiking a fever that very afternoon. 104 degrees never really makes a mother, or anybody happy! So we dosed her with liquid ibuprofen, but within two hours the fever spiked again and sent her into convulsions. I can't describe how much I hate watching my children go through a febrile seizure. From experience with Louisa at the same age, we knew what to do. Lot's of deep breaths (for me), as we laid Savannah on the cool cement floor and waited the long 40 seconds for it to end. When the seizure was finished and she was pale and sleepy we drove her up the rode to the Myhre's for a malaria test (negative) to rule out cerebral malaria (which also causes seizures) and some emotional support. She has spent the last three days with a consistent high fever, but no more seizures. Our internet has been spotty during this same time so this is the first chance I've had to post. Last night she slept through the night for the first time, was cool to the touch and has been running around and acting fairly normal this morning. Although if you want to know the absolute truth, she hasn't pooped in awhile, this is the fourth day running! So she has a tummy full of prunes, but alas with no result so far. So if you think of her please pray she would go to the potty soon, I'm sure this is not helping her tummy feel any better. Thanks again for your prayers.