Public Employee Press

Second of two parts

Local 768 member responds to Ebola outbreak in Guinea
Public Health Advisor answers global call

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

A grieving father's 2-day-old baby died in his arms. He waited hours for a Red Cross truck to reach his compound. There are no paved roads, street signs or house numbers in Ratoma, the bustling section of Conakry, Guinea, where the infant lay.

"Regardless of the cause of death or age of the victim, the family has to call us and wait," said volunteer Gardy Deshommes, a Public Health Advisor at the New York City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Deshommes and three other DOHMH employees were part of the first international responders to deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

"When I heard they needed French-speaking volunteers, my desire was to answer the call, especially in the land of my ancestors," said the Local 768 member. "This is about global citizenship, not just for me but for my children. I wanted them to know they should not shy away from global challenges."

Ebola had crisscrossed three African nations when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recruited the four DOHMH scientists. They joined health experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, the United Nations, U.S. Agency for International Development, and UNICEF to trace the intractable contagion.

"It was a first for DOHMH to respond at this level," said Deshommes. "DOHMH made all the arrangements. It was hard work but I am proud to have answered the global health challenge."

Deshommes spent six weeks in Ratoma giving technical support to Guineans, who speak French and several African languages. At no time was
Deshommes or any DOHMH volunteers exposed to or in contact with Ebola-infected persons.

OUTBREAK AND DEATH

Epidemiologists mapped Ebola's expansive web, noting contacts and confirmed cases, and counting the dead. They traced the outbreak to Guékédou, a commune in southern Guinea, where in December 2013, Emile, age 2, had contact with a fruit bat, reported Columbia Magazine. All human viruses originate in animals; the fruit bat is Ebola's natural host.

In four short days young Emile died. Then his sister, mother and grandmother got sick and died.

Ebola hemorrhagic virus spreads through contact with a symptomatic Ebola-infected person or corpse. It has a 21-day incubation period. Symptoms include high fever, sore throat, fatigue and headaches, much like malaria, a common malady in developing nations. In its final stages, Ebola causes hemorrhaging and death. Only a lab test can confirm Ebola virus.

By April 2014, Ebola claimed 80 Guineans and raced toward Conakry, whose population is 1.7 million, the same as Manhattan's. In October, it subsided and the CDC reported 3,801 suspected and 3,400 confirmed Ebola cases in Guinea; the death toll peaked at 2,535.

Overall, 10,296 people died from Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, 6.5 times more deaths than all 24 previous Ebola outbreaks combined, according to WHO.

Teams of Guinean investigators donned head-to-toe protective suits and goggles. Armed with bleach and forehead thermometers, they decontaminated sites, retrieved the dead and transported the sick to Ebola treatment units. These bare bones makeshift clinics have none of the sanitary prophylactics that are basic to U.S. clinics, Deshommes said.

"Conditions are harsher than one could imagine. Your passion has to be greater than your commitment. You must care," Deshommes said, "because you will not be comfortable."

Guineans are deeply religious people. Their culture and traditions dictate washing the corpse, visiting relatives of dead and a quick burial. These customs are tied to their faith.

"We told families to remain calm and wait for the investigators, even if the deceased did not have Ebola," Deshommes said. These lifesaving precautions countered every impulse to touch, comfort, console.

"The Guineans were very appreciative and thanked us from the heart," Deshommes said. "You become a new person seeing how appreciative they are. I can say I've done my part, that small drop to make the world a little better."