Few viruses can boast of being the inspiration for hit dance tunes, but then Ebola — which kills up to 90 percent of its victims, has no vaccine or cure, and causes horrific internal and external bleeding — is not your average pathogen.
When an epidemic struck west Africa’s music-crazy nations of Guinea and Liberia, it spawned mass panic — and the outbreak of a new dance accompanied to a infectious rap song.
“Ebola, Ebola in town. Don’t touch your friend. No kissing, no eating something. It’s dangerous,” warns the chorus of Ebola in Town, looped over a catchy, trippy electro-dance beat. At one point, the rapper describes an attempt to escape Ebola by fleeing to Guinea, only to discover, in lyrics that suggest a stalking ex-lover, the disease lurking there too.
Photo: EPA
Clubbers bitten by the musical bug have come up with a “no touching” jig in roadside bars of the capital, Monrovia.
“With such a high illiteracy rate and such important messages to get across, sometimes a catchy or humorous song is the best way. I still remember ones that were made when I was a child in school here in Liberia,” said bank manager Ethel Knuckles, in her 30s.
Such musical comic relief follows in the tradition of others such as Ivory Coast’s Crazy Chicken, inspired by the avian influenza virus. Aside from comic relief, in a region with weak public health systems, the Ebola song also communicates vital information needed to curb the virus, which is spread through contact with fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, blood and saliva.
Health workers have raced to contain Ebola’s transmission. When it appeared for the first time in Guinea in March — from where it later jumped to Liberia — popular text messages claimed an antidote could be found in a concoction of hot chocolate, coffee, milk, sugar and raw onions. In Liberia, many initially dismissed Ebola as a way for health officials to rake in money. Few took official advice to abstain from sex — coyly referred to as “no eating something” in the song — seriously.
Hosted by fruit bats, a local delicacy, the “molecular shark” has so far killed 145 people, about two-thirds in Guinea.
“Timing and appropriate healthcare are crucial to whether Ebola spreads and whether victims survive. It needs to be taken very seriously, but there’s a tendency for people to develop a kind of paranoid psychosis about Ebola,” Guinean Ministry of Health official Sakouba Keita said.
For those who do beat the odds, Ebola in Town’s call for “no touching” pre-empts the stigma that often awaits. Health workers say the terrified reactions toward survivors recalls the early days of the HIV epidemic and can even affect relatives.
An added complication is that medics on the front line often face the greatest prejudice.
“You have to be scared of anyone who goes around dressed up like a cosmonaut,” said Fanta Mamadou, a market trader in Nzerekore, Guinea’s second city, where residents initially refused to open their doors to health workers dressed in head-to-toe biohazard suits.
“Stigmatization has now become the main challenge we are dealing with,” said Marc Poncin, emergency coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres, whose suspected or confirmed cases have dwindled to seven in Guinea.
Medical workers make a point of accompanying recovered patients on their return home.
“We always hug the patient in front of the family to show it is possible to live normally with a cured person,” Poncin said.
For some survivors, being stigmatized is the least of their worries.
“It feels miraculous to be given a second chance,” said a former patient, who gave only her first name, Rose. “The first thing on my mind when I got home was to hold my children, then give the house a good spring clean.”
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