Distant War
London, 1939. Sierra Leone, 2014. Two wars — one fought with bombs, the other with a virus. Both distant. Both closing in.
London. September 3, 1939.
Neville Chamberlain as the British Prime Minister announced over the radio that Germany under Hitler reject the ultimatum he had offered; and as of that day, England was at war with Germany.
By the time England declared war, Germany had already invaded Poland; and yet nothing happened in England for several months. No land invasion, no naval battle, no Blitzkrieg, nothing. London was practically untouched until late 1940.
The rather long war-but-no-war period was once called a “distant war” — a war fought thousands of miles from home. A war some people at home may know nothing about.
Sierra Leone. July 31, 2014.
President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone declared a public health emergency following Ebola outbreak in three neighboring countries: Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
As of today, 672 were killed in the outbreak; including Dr. Sheik Umar Khan — one of the leading Ebola-fighting physicians in Liberia. The outbreak was thought to be the largest in recorded history (only 7 outbreaks reached more than 100 victims, with the largest before now being Uganda in 2000, claiming 224 dead).
Ebola was caused by Ebola virus (hence the name); a zoonotic disease thought to be transmitted by fruit bats. Human can contract the disease simply by eating fruits contaminated by saliva of a fruit bat; or eating carcass of animals killed by the disease.
Ebola manifests as hemorrhagic fever: diarrhea, red eyes, vomiting blood, gastrointestinal bleeding from the mouth or rectum, hemorrhaging from the nose and mouth, and bleeding in the brain that may lead to seizures and delirium. After showing these symptoms, the patient may recover or die from multiple organ failure. The case fatality rate for the current outbreak was 56%; meaning more than half of the people infected with the disease will die.
No cure or vaccine for Ebola was found yet.
Maybe it’s hyperbolic to call an outbreak a war, but it is to me. Ebola was the “distant war.” It was fought in the third world, far from the WHO headquarter in Geneva. We know the war was still going on (and we’re losing), and yet we still feel safe and warm in here.
An outbreak as serious as Ebola is a global concern. We’re lucky that Ebola was not airborne — the entire population may be wiped out in several weeks. But still, a disease carries no passport. It may stand on our doorstep already.
London was ready when the Blitz finally came; air-raid warnings were installed, bunkers were made, people were trained.
Shouldn’t we prepare too?