The fear of the deadly Ebola virus is everywhere now, people
are scared as rumours fly about from unknown and unverified sources and if the
information going round is to be believed, then by the end of this year more than
half the population of Nigeria will die from Ebola.
Real or imagined or just unconfirmed information, many men
of God are instilling fears in their members from the pulpit, so many
revelations about the virus are being accredited to some prominent men of God, and it’s
really a sad situation if it’s true. Awareness should be created and not fear,
we have cases of Ebola in the country, but has it become Ebolademic, has it gotten
to the stage where everyone should be afraid to even breath air outside their
homes.
The information going round is that we should not shake
hands with people anymore, we should not embrace friends again, we should not
eat bush meat because animals are the primary carriers of the virus, and we
should not come in contact with another’s person body. The question is; those
that have to commute with public transport every day, what should the do? Maybe
the federal government will have to come out with a special raincoat for people
to wear as a safety measure.
The latest information now is that people should bath with
hot water with a dash of salt inside as well as drink the salty water for
safety measures. I received a call from a relative as early as 4:30am to pass
the information, then I got lots of broadcast on BBM toward that effect and by
the time I came out of my house the information was all over Nigeria.
I began to wonder what salt has to do with Ebola virus until
I read up somewhere that the Ebola virus is worm-like, and someone somewhere
has put up the logic that since salt kills worm, it may be effective in killing
the Ebola virus and so the information spread with an alarming velocity, even
to the point of death. There was report of people who died from excess intake
of salt and some others hospitalized too; all because of unnecessary fear.
From reports monitored so far, the numbers of infected
persons are too small for the panic being generated. In as much as we should
not throw cautious to the wind, but with the way it’s be escalated, Ebolademic
panic will kill people more than the Ebola virus.
