4 epidemics that almost happened (but didn't) - George Zaidan

Translator: Ángela Novoa Reviewer: Servizo de Normalización Lingüística

Ebola is one of the deadliest viruses we know of.

O ébola é un dos virus máis letais que coñecemos.

If left untreated, it kills about half of those it infects.

Se non se trata, mata aproximadamente a metade dos infectados.

It can spread through pretty much every fluid your body makes,

Pode propagarse a través de case todos os fluídos corporais,

including blood and sweat.

incluídos o sangue e a suor.

Even the dead can transmit the disease, often doing so at their own funerals.

Até os mortos poden transmitir a enfermidade,

e adoitan facelo nos seus propios funerais.

On December 26th, 2013, a two-year-old boy in southern Guinea got sick.

O 26 de decembro de 2013,

un neno de dous anos do sur de Guinea enfermou.

Just two days later, he died.

Apenas dous días despois, morreu.

It took local doctors working with the international community

Os médicos locais, en colaboración coa comunidade internacional,

four months to discover that Ebola was to blame,

tardaron catro meses en descubrir que a culpa era do ébola,

largely because it had never before been detected outside of Central Africa.

principalmente porque nunca antes se detectara fóra de África Central.

In those four months, Ebola gained a head start that would prove devastating.

Neses catro meses, o ébola adquiriu unha vantaxe que resultaría devastadora.

The outbreak lasted two years

O brote durou dous anos

and mushroomed into the largest Ebola epidemic in recorded history.

e converteuse na maior epidemia de ébola da historia.

More than 28,000 people contracted the disease and over 11,000 died.

Máis de 28 000 persoas contraeron a enfermidade e máis de 11 000 morreron.

In 2013, Guinea had no formal emergency response system,

En 2013, Guinea non tiña un sistema de emerxencias formalizado,

few trained contact tracers, and no rapid tests,

tiña poucos rastreadores e carecía de probas rápidas,

border screenings, or licensed vaccine for Ebola.

controis fronteirizos ou vacinas autorizadas contra o ébola.

After that epidemic, Guinea,

Despois desta epidemia,

Guinea, co apoio dos EE. UU. e outros socios internacionais,

with the support of the US and other international partners,

completely overhauled their epidemic response system.

renovou totalmente o seu sistema de resposta ás epidemias.

And in January 2021, that system faced its first real test.

E, en xaneiro de 2021, ese sistema enfrontouse á súa primeira proba real.

It started when a nurse in southern Guinea developed a headache, vomiting, and fever.

Comezou cando unha enfermeira do sur de Guinea

empezou a ter dor de cabeza, vómitos e febre.

A few days later, she died.

Uns días despois, morreu.

As dictated by traditional burial practices,

Como ditan as prácticas funerarias tradicionais,

her family prepared her body for the funeral.

a súa familia preparou o seu corpo para o funeral.

Within a week, the nurse’s husband and other family members

Despois dunha semana, o marido da enfermeira e outros familiares

started experiencing symptoms.

comezaron a experimentar síntomas.

Health officials suspected Ebola much quicker than in 2013 and ordered tests.

O persoal sanitario sospeitou moito máis rápido que tiñan ébola

e solicitou probas. Os resultados foron positivos

They came back positive,

and Guinea activated its epidemic alert system the next day.

e Guinea activou o seu sistema de alerta epidémica ao día seguinte.

Then, lots of things happened very quickly.

Entón, sucederon moitas cousas moi rapidamente.

Guinea’s National Agency for Health Security

A Axencia Nacional de Seguridade Sanitaria de Guinea

activated 38 district-level emergency operations centers,

activou 38 centros de operacións de emerxencia a nivel de distrito,

as well as a national one.

así como un a nivel nacional.

Teams of epidemiologists and contact tracers began the painstaking job

Equipos de epidemiólogos e rastreadores de contactos comezaron a minuciosa tarefa

of figuring out exactly who was exposed and when,

de pescudar exactamente quen estivera exposto e cando,

generating a list of 23 initial contacts that quickly grew to over 1,100.

e xeraron unha listaxe de 23 contactos iniciais

que rapidamente creceu ata superar os 1100.

Advanced rapid testing capacity spun up in the city where the outbreak started.

Púxose en marcha un sistema avanzado de probas rápidas

na cidade onde se orixinou o brote.

At Guinea’s borders with Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire,

Nas fronteiras de Guinea con Liberia e Costa de Marfil,

public health workers screened more than 2 million travelers.

o persoal sanitario examinou máis de dous millóns de viaxeiros.

A large-scale vaccination campaign was started.

Iniciouse unha campaña de vacinación a grande escala.

And, finally, more than 900 community mobilizers

E, finalmente, máis de 900 activistas comunitarios

alerted people of the outbreak

alertaron a poboación do brote

and suggested alternative burial practices that were acceptable to the community

e suxeriron prácticas funerarias alternativas que fosen aceptables

para a comunidade e reducisen o risco de propagación do ébola.

and reduced the risk of spreading Ebola.

Thanks to all these measures,

Grazas a todas estas medidas,

the 2021 outbreak ended just four months after it began.

o brote de 2021 terminou apenas catro meses despois do seu inicio.

Only 23 people contracted Ebola; only 12 died.

Só 23 persoas contraeron o ébola e só 12 morreron.

That's less than 1% of the deaths in the prior outbreak.

Iso é menos do 1 % das mortes do brote anterior.

The 2021 outbreak cost $100 million to control—

Controlar o brote de 2021 custou 100 millóns de dólares,

which sounds like a lot but pales in comparison

o que parece moito, pero é insignificante en comparación

to the global economic cost of the previous outbreak:

co custo económico global do brote anterior:

$53 billion.

53 000 millóns de dólares.

So should every country just copy Guinea’s approach?

Entón, todos os países deberían copiar a estratexia de Guinea?

Not exactly.

Non exactamente.

It is always important to respond to an outbreak quickly,

Sempre é importante responder a un brote con rapidez,

so an early warning system is essential.

polo que un sistema de alerta temperá é vital.

But beyond that, a successful response can look very different

Pero, máis aló diso, unha reposta eficaz pode ser moi diferente

for different diseases in different countries.

para distintas enfermidades en distintos países.

For example, Brazil quenched an outbreak of yellow fever,

Por exemplo, o Brasil sufocou un brote de febre amarela,

which is spread by mosquitoes,

transmitida polos mosquitos,

primarily by mounting a massive vaccination campaign.

principalmente organizando unha campaña de vacinación masiva.

That strategy worked well for Brazil

Esa estratexia funcionou ben no Brasil

because it’s one of the major global producers of the yellow fever vaccine,

porque é un dos maiores produtores da vacina contra a febre amarela

and its population was accustomed to regular, routine vaccinations.

e a súa poboación estaba acostumada a vacinacións periódicas e rutineiras.

But for many diseases, you don't even need a mass vaccination program.

Pero para moitas enfermidades non é necesario

un programa de vacinación masiva.

In August of 2021, a truck driver tested positive for cholera in Burkina Faso.

En agosto de 2021, un camioneiro deu positivo por cólera en Burkina Faso.

Health care workers alerted the government that same day

O persoal sanitario alertou o goberno ese mesmo día

and contact tracing began immediately.

e o rastrexo de contactos comezou deseguido.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium,

O cólera está causado por unha bacteria, polo que Burkina Faso facilitou

so Burkina Faso gave antibiotics to those exposed or potentially exposed.

antibióticos ás persoas expostas ou potencialmente expostas.

This extremely fast response stopped the outbreak

Esta resposta extremadamente rápida

detivo o brote ás poucas semanas do seu inicio.

just a few weeks after it started.

Cholera often rears its head in West Africa—

O cólera asoma a miúdo a cabeza en África Occidental.

in 2021, there were over 100,000 cases and more than 3,700 deaths.

En 2021, houbo máis de 100 000 casos e máis de 3700 mortes.

Because Burkina Faso was so well prepared, they had zero deaths that year.

Como Burkina Faso estaba tan ben preparada, ese ano

non houbo ningunha morte.

Zero.

Cero.

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, health officials piloted

En Chiang Mai, Tailandia, os servizos sanitarios puxeron a proba

a community-owned, community-driven outbreak alert system

un sistema de control de alertas xestionado pola comunidade

to monitor animal health—

para controlar a saúde dos animais,

that’s important because some animal outbreaks have the potential

o que é importante porque algúns brotes en animais teñen o potencial

to spill over and become human outbreaks.

de propagarse e converterse en brotes humanos.

Villagers used an app to alert health authorities about outbreaks in animals.

Os habitantes usaron unha aplicación para alertar

as autoridades sanitarias sobre brotes en animais.

Over the course of 16 months, 36 animal outbreaks were identified.

Ao longo de 16 meses, detectáronse 36 brotes animais.

For any outbreak response system to be effective,

Para que un sistema de resposta a epidemias sexa eficaz,

it needs to be trusted, valued, and ultimately used by communities.

as comunidades deben confiar nel, valoralo e, en definitiva, utilizalo.

That means reaching people where they are, in the language they speak,

Iso implica chegar ás persoas alá onde estean, no idioma que falen

and aware of the culture, beliefs, and practices with which they live.

e sendo conscientes da cultura, crenzas e as prácticas coas que conviven.

Perhaps most importantly, we can't expect to do nothing for years

Quizais o máis importante é que non podemos esperar

non facer nada durante anos

and then just swing into action when an outbreak occurs.

e logo lanzarnos á acción cando se produza un brote.

One of the best ways to save lives is to invest in lasting health infrastructure,

Unha das mellores formas de salvar vidas é investir

en infraestruturas sanitarias duradeiras os 365 días do ano

365 days a year, for everyone,

para todos, especialmente para os máis vulnerables.

especially the most vulnerable among us.