The African country of Uganda has recently begun taking precautions against one of history’s deadliest diseases, the Bubonic Plague. During the Middle Ages the plague rampaged across Europe, killing as much as a third of its population. The disease is spread by the bite of small insects, generally fleas or mosquitoes. Once infected individuals must be treated immediately or face grave consequences. The fatality rate of this disease is upwards of 50 percent and in many poor African countries treatment would be inaccessible. This situation could spell disaster for the densely populated areas near the epicenter of the outbreak, which is entering Uganda through the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Ugandan government has decided to fight the disease by using pesticides in order to wipe out the disease carrying insects. However, the pesticides selected for the job have proven to be harmful to animals. The government is faced with a decision between two evils, whether or not to risk the country’s livestock or risk an outbreak of one of history’s deadliest diseases.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=uganda-embarks-on-bubonic-plague-pr-2009-09-28
4 comments:
The fact that the Ugandan government is even facing this dilemma is incredibly sad; in an ideal world pharmaceutical companies and other governments would donate aid and the medicine required to treat such a disease. Of course the world is not an ideal place but surely there has to be some other solution besides jeopardizing either half of the countries population or the ecosystem. However if that is truly the choice, I'd say that protecting the people to the maximum degree possible is the governments primary responsibility, and as such they must use the pesticides.
This article raises a lot of questions for me. Namely, I thought the bubonic plague no longer existed? Which probably means I need a refresher course in epidemics... I would be interested to find out the history of the disease, whether or not it has lain dormant all this time or if there have been many other outbreaks. Anyway, the prospect of a mass disease like this is very scary, quite obviously reminding me of the wipeout in the Middle Ages; considering the gravity with which we view that historical event hundreds of years later, it really does make the situation seem much more dire. It does seem however that they have a solution, though it may spell disaster.
AHHHHH! Not the Bubonic Plague! Like Sabina I thought that it was all gone, but I guess I was wrong...
But anyways. I agree with Amelia and it is incredibly depressing that anyone, especially the Ugandan government would be forced to chose between the people or essentially the food. With all of the technology and science nowadays, you would think that a vaccine or medicine could be developed to fight this off. And of course you would hope that said medicine would be donated.
The other issue is that if the Bubonic Plague is back, it can spread. So clearly the number one priority would be to eradicate the disease. How the government should go about this, I don't have no clue, but again with all of our technology, you would think that we could create a pesticide that was not as detrimental to the animal population as this one is. I don't even know if that is possible, but one can hope, right?
Lets just hope that we wont have to pull out the nose gays, and have a repeat of the events that the kids game "London Bridge is Falling Down" is based on.
There is a treatment and a vaccine for the bubonic plague, so the existence of preventative measures/a cure is not the issue. Rather, like the article implies, it is the accessibility of the treatment that has proven to be problematic. For me, this is what makes the situation in Uganda so tragic: people are suffering from a disease that has a cure, but since that cure is unavailable, they are forced to take drastic measures to contain the epidemic. I agree with Amelia that the choice between a population's health and a functioning ecosystem is not a choice that the Ugandan government should have to make.
Also, I remember reading about several relatively minor outbreaks of the bubonic plague that took place well after the Middle Ages, so I guess the disease was never really eradicated.
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