How we'll fight the next deadly virus | Pardis Sabeti

Translator: Carme Paz Reviewer: Xusto Rodriguez

Talvez nunca oirades falar de Kenema, en Serra Leoa

You may never have heard of Kenema, Sierra Leone

or Arua, Nigeria.

ou de Arua, en Nixeria.

But I know them as two of the most extraordinary places on earth.

Pero para min son dous dos lugares máis extraordinarios da terra.

In hospitals there, there's a community of nurses, physicians and scientists

Nos hospitais, hai unha comunidade de enfermeiros, médicos e científicos

que estiveron loitando en silencio

that have been quietly battling

one of the deadliest threats to humanity for years:

contra unha das ameazas máis letais para a humanidade en anos:

Lassa virus.

O virus Lassa.

O virus Lassa parécese ao ébola.

Lassa virus is a lot like Ebola.

It can cause a severe fever and can often be fatal.

Pode causar febre grave e, a miúdo, ser mortal.

Pero estes individuos arriscan as súas vidas cada día

But these individuals, they risk their lives every day

para protexer as persoas nas súas comunidades,

to protect the individuals in their communities,

and by doing so, protect us all.

e, ao faceren isto, protéxennos a todos.

Pero unha das cousas máis extraordinarias que aprendín deles

But one of the most extraordinary things I learned about them

nunha das miñas primeiras visitas, hai moitos anos,

on one of my first visits out there many years ago

was that they start each morning --

foi que comezan cada mañá

these challenging, extraordinary days on the front lines -- by singing.

-eses días desafiantes, extraordinarios nas primeiras liñas da batalla- cantando.

They gather together, and they show their joy.

Xúntanse e amosan a súa alegría.

Amosan o seu espírito.

They show their spirit.

And over the years,

E ao longo dos anos,

from year after year as I've visited them and they've visited me,

ano tras ano, cando os visito e eles me visitan a min,

I get to gather with them and I sing

reúnome con eles e canto

and we write and we love it,

e escribimos e encántanos,

porque nos lembra que non estamos aquí só para facermos ciencia xuntos;

because it reminds us that we're not just there to pursue science together;

we're bonded through a shared humanity.

estamos unidos a través dunha humanidade compartida.

And that of course, as you can imagine, becomes extremely important,

E, por suposto, como podedes imaxinar, convértese en algo moi importante,

even essential, as things begin to change.

mesmo esencial, cando as cousas comezan a cambiar.

And that changed a great deal in March of 2014,

E cambiaron moito en marzo de 2014,

when the Ebola outbreak was declared in Guinea.

cando se declarou o brote de ébola en Guinea.

This is the first outbreak in West Africa,

Este foi o primeiro en África Occidental,

near the border of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

preto da fronteira de Serra Leoa e Liberia.

E foi aterrador para todos nós.

And it was frightening, frightening for us all.

We had actually suspected for some time

A verdade, había tempo que sospeitabamos

that Lassa and Ebola were more widespread than thought,

que o virus Lassa e o ébola estaban máis estendidos do que se pensaba,

and we thought it could one day come to Kenema.

e que podería chegar a Kenema.

And so members of my team immediately went out

Por iso, os membros do meu equipo saíron de contado

and joined Dr. Humarr Khan and his team there,

para unirse alí ao Dr. Humarr Khan e ao seu equipo.

and we set up diagnostics to be able to have sensitive molecular tests

Establecemos diagnósticos para podermos ter probas moleculares sensibles

to pick up Ebola if it came across the border

para detectar o ébola se chegaba pola fronteira

and into Sierra Leone.

a Serra Leoa.

We'd already set up this kind of capacity for Lassa virus,

Xa estableceramos este tipo de procedemento para o virus Lassa,

we knew how to do it,

sabiamos como facelo,

o equipo é espectacular.

the team is outstanding.

We just had to give them the tools and place to survey for Ebola.

Só tiñamos que darlles as ferramentas e o lugar para vixiar o ébola.

And unfortunately, that day came.

E por desgraza, ese día chegou.

On May 23, 2014, a woman checked into the maternity ward at the hospital,

O 23 de maio de 2014, unha muller chegou á área de maternidade do hospital

and the team ran those important molecular tests

e o equipo fixo esas importantes probas moleculares

and they identified the first confirmed case of Ebola in Sierra Leone.

e identificaron o primeiro caso confirmado de ébola en Serra Leoa.

Foi un traballo excepcional.

This was an exceptional work that was done.

They were able to diagnose the case immediately,

Foron quen de diagnosticar o caso de inmediato,

to safely treat the patient

para tratar a paciente de xeito seguro,

and to begin to do contact tracing to follow what was going on.

e comezar a rastrexar os seus coñecidos para ver que pasaba.

It could've stopped something.

Poderíase deter algo.

But by the time that day came,

Pero cando ese día chegou,

the outbreak had already been breeding for months.

o brote xa medrara durante meses.

Con centos de casos, xa eclipsara todos os brotes previos.

With hundreds of cases, it had already eclipsed all previous outbreaks.

And it came into Sierra Leone not as that singular case,

E chegou a Serra Leoa non como un caso particular,

but as a tidal wave.

senón como un maremoto.

Tivemos que traballar coa comunidade internacional,

We had to work with the international community,

with the Ministry of Health, with Kenema, to begin to deal with the cases,

co Ministerio de Sanidade, con Kenema, para comezar a tratar os casos,

cando a seguinte semana trouxo 31,

as the next week brought 31,

then 92, then 147 cases -- all coming to Kenema,

despois 92, despois 147, todos chegando a Kenema,

one of the only places in Sierra Leone that could deal with this.

un dos únicos lugares en Serra Leoa que podería loitar contra iso.

And we worked around the clock trying to do everything we could,

E traballamos contra reloxo intentando facer todo o posible,

intentando axudar as persoas, intentando chamar a atención,

trying to help the individuals, trying to get attention,

pero tamén fixemos unha cousa sinxela.

but we also did one other simple thing.

From that specimen that we take from a patient's blood to detect Ebola,

As mostras que collemos do sangue dun paciente, para detectar o ébola,

we can discard it, obviously.

podemos descartalas, obviamente.

The other thing we can do is, actually, put in a chemical and deactivate it,

Pero tamén podemos facer outra cousa: usar un produto químico e desactivalas,

despois poñelas nunha caixa e envialas a través do océano.

so just place it into a box and ship it across the ocean,

and that's what we did.

Iso é o que fixemos.

Enviámolas a Boston, onde traballa o meu equipo.

We sent it to Boston, where my team works.

And we also worked around the clock doing shift work, day after day,

E tamén traballamos contra reloxo facendo quendas, día tras día.

and we quickly generated 99 genomes of the Ebola virus.

Rapidamente xeramos 99 xenomas do ébola.

This is the blueprint -- the genome of a virus is the blueprint.

O xenoma é o plano dun virus.

We all have one.

Todos temos un.

It says everything that makes up us,

Conta todo o que o nos conforma

and it tells us so much information.

e dános moita información.

The results of this kind of work are simple and they're powerful.

Os resultados deste tipo de traballo son simples e de grande alcance.

We could actually take these 99 different viruses,

Así, podiamos coller eses 99 virus diferentes,

look at them and compare them,

observalos e comparalos.

and we could see, actually, compared to three genomes

E puidemos ver, comparándoos cos tres xenomas

that had been previously published from Guinea,

que previamente se publicaran en Guinea,

puidemos mostrar que o brote xurdira en Guinea meses antes,

we could show that the outbreak emerged in Guinea months before,

once into the human population,

na poboación humana,

and from there had been transmitting from human to human.

e de alí foise transmitindo de persoa a persoa.

Now, that's incredibly important

Isto é moi importante

when you're trying to figure out how to intervene,

cando intentamos decidir como intervir,

but the important thing is contact tracing.

pero o importante é o rastrexo de coñecidos.

We also could see that as the virus was moving between humans,

Tamén puidemos ver que mentres o virus se movía entre as persoas

it was mutating.

ía mutando.

E cada mutación é moi importante

And each of those mutations are so important,

because the diagnostics, the vaccines,

porque o diagnóstico, as vacinas,

the therapies that we're using,

as terapias que estamos usando,

están todas baseadas nesa secuencia xenómica, fundamentalmente,

are all based on that genome sequence, fundamentally --

that's what drives it.

iso é o que as dirixe.

And so global health experts would need to respond,

E así os expertos mundiais da saúde necesitarían responder,

would have to develop,

terían que desenvolver,

to recalibrate everything that they were doing.

recalibrar todo o que estaban facendo.

Pero a forma en que a ciencia funciona, a miña posición nese momento

But the way that science works, the position I was in at that point

is, I had the data,

era: eu tiña os datos

and I could have worked in a silo for many, many months,

e podía estar traballando recluída durante moitos meses,

analizando os datos lenta e coidadosamente,

analyzed the data carefully, slowly,

submitted the paper for publication, gone through a few back-and-forths,

enviar un artigo a publicar, pasando por varias idas e voltas,

and then finally when the paper came out, might release that data.

e, finalmente, ao publicarse o artigo, podería revelar os datos.

That's the way the status quo works.

Ese é o xeito en que o statu quo traballa.

Well, that was not going to work at this point, right?

Vaia, pero iso non ía funcionar nese momento, non?

We had friends on the front lines

Tiñamos amizades nas trincheiras

and to us it was just obvious that what we needed is help,

e para nós era obvio que precisabamos axuda,

lots of help.

moita axuda.

So the first thing we did is,

Así que o primeiro que fixemos,

as soon as the sequences came off the machines,

tan axiña como as secuencias saíron das máquinas,

foi publicalas na web.

we published it to the web.

We just released it to the whole world and said, "Help us."

Simplemente liberámolas para todo o mundo e dixemos: "Axudádenos."

And help came.

E a axuda chegou.

Before we knew it,

Antes de darnos conta,

we were being contacted from people all over,

estabamos contactando con xente de todos os sitios,

surprised to see the data out there and released.

sorprendida de ver os datos aí fóra e liberados.

Some of the greatest viral trackers in the world

Algúns dos mellores rastrexadores de virus no mundo

were suddenly part of our community.

de súpeto eran parte da nosa comunidade.

Estabamos traballando xuntos nese camiño virtual,

We were working together in this virtual way,

sharing, regular calls, communications,

intercambiando chamadas regulares, comunicacións,

trying to follow the virus minute by minute,

intentando seguir o virus minuto a minuto,

to see ways that we could stop it.

para ver o xeito en que poderiamos paralo.

E hai moitas maneiras de formar comunidades coma esta.

And there are so many ways that we can form communities like that.

Everybody, particularly when the outbreak started to expand globally,

Todo o mundo, sobre todo cando o brote comezou a estenderse globalmente,

was reaching out to learn, to participate, to engage.

estaba tratando de aprender, participar, involucrarse.

Everybody wants to play a part.

Todo o mundo quere formar parte.

The amount of human capacity out there is just amazing,

A cantidade de potencial humano que hai aí fóra é abraiante,

and the Internet connects us all.

e Internet conéctanos a todos.

And could you imagine that instead of being frightened of each other,

E poderiades imaxinar que, en lugar de asustarnos mutuamente,

that we all just said, "Let's do this.

todos dixeramos: "Imos facelo.

Imos traballar xuntos, e imos facer que isto ocorra."

Let's work together, and let's make this happen."

But the problem is that the data that all of us are using,

Pero o problema é que os datos que todos estamos usando,

Googling on the web, is just too limited to do what we need to do.

buscando en Google, son limitados de máis para facer o que hai que facer.

And so many opportunities get missed when that happens.

E hai tantas oportunidades que se perden cando isto ocorre.

Así que ao comezo da epidemia de Kenema,

So in the early part of the epidemic from Kenema,

we'd had 106 clinical records from patients,

tiñamos 106 historias clínicas de pacientes,

and we once again made that publicly available to the world.

e, unha vez máis, fixémolas accesibles para o mundo.

E no noso laboratorio, puidemos mostrar que se poden tomar esas 106 historias,

And in our own lab, we could show that you could take those 106 records,

we could train computers to predict the prognosis for Ebola patients

e adestrar computadores para predicir o prognóstico dos pacientes de Ébola

to near 100 percent accuracy.

con case un 100 por cen de precisión.

And we made an app that could release that,

E fixemos unha aplicación que liberara isto,

to make that available to health-care workers in the field.

para que estivera dispoñible para traballadores da saúde.

But 106 is just not enough to make it powerful,

Pero 106 historias non abondan para facelo potente,

to validate it.

para validalo.

So we were waiting for more data to release that.

Así que estivemos agardando por máis datos para liberalos.

and the data has still not come.

E os datos aínda non chegaban.

We are still waiting, tweaking away,

Estabamos agardando, axustando,

enclaustrados máis que traballando xuntos.

in silos rather than working together.

And this just -- we can't accept that.

E isto simplemente, non podemos aceptalo.

Right? You, all of you, cannot accept that.

Non si? Vós, todos vós, non podedes aceptar iso.

Son as nosas vidas en xogo.

It's our lives on the line.

And in fact, actually,

E de feito, en realidade,

many lives were lost, many health-care workers,

perdéronse moitas vidas, moitos traballadores da saúde,

incluíndo queridos amigos meus,

including beloved colleagues of mine,

five colleagues: Mbalu Fonnie, Alex Moigboi,

cinco colegas: Mbalu Fonnie, Alex Moigboi,

Dr. Humarr Khan, Alice Kovoma and Mohamed Fullah.

o Dr. Humarr Khan, Alice Kovoma e Mohamed Fullah.

These are just five of many health-care workers

Estes son só cinco de moitos traballadores da saúde

at Kenema and beyond

de Kenema e máis alá

que morreron mentres o mundo agardaba e todos traballabamos,

that died while the world waited and while we all worked,

silenciosamente e por separado.

quietly and separately.

Mirade, o ébola, como todas as ameazas á humanidade,

See, Ebola, like all threats to humanity,

it's fueled by mistrust and distraction and division.

aliméntase da desconfianza e da distracción e a división.

Cando construímos barreiras entre nós e loitamos entre nós,

When we build barriers amongst ourselves and we fight amongst ourselves,

the virus thrives.

o virus medra.

But unlike all threats to humanity,

Pero, ao revés de todas as ameazas á humanidade,

Ebola is one where we're actually all the same.

no ébola todos nós somos en realidade o mesmo.

Todos estamos xuntos nesta loita.

We're all in this fight together.

O ébola da porta dunha persoa pode estar axiña na nosa.

Ebola on one person's doorstep could soon be on ours.

E así neste lugar coas mesmas vulnerabilidades,

And so in this place with the same vulnerabilities,

idénticas fortalezas, medos e esperanzas,

the same strengths, the same fears, the same hopes,

I hope that we work together with joy.

agardo que poidamos traballar xuntos con alegría.

A graduate student of mine was reading a book about Sierra Leone,

Unha estudante miña estaba lendo un libro sobre Serra Leoa,

and she discovered that the word "Kenema,"

e descubriu que a palabra "Kenema",

the hospital that we work at and the city where we work in Sierra Leone,

o hospital e a cidade onde traballamos en Serra Leoa,

is named after the Mende word for "clear like a river, translucent

provén da palabra Mende "clara como un río, transparente

and open to the public gaze."

e aberta á mirada pública."

That was really profound for us,

Foi realmente profundo para nós,

porque sen sabelo, sempre sentiramos

because without knowing it, we'd always felt

que para honrar as persoas en Kenema onde traballamos,

that in order to honor the individuals in Kenema where we worked,

we had to work openly, we had to share and we had to work together.

tiñamos que facelo de xeito aberto, compartir e traballar xuntos.

E temos que facelo así.

And we have to do that.

We all have to demand that of ourselves and others --

Todos tiñamos que esixir iso de nós mesmos e dos demais,

estar abertos aos demais cando ocorre un brote,

to be open to each other when an outbreak happens,

to fight in this fight together.

para loitar xuntos nesta loita.

Because this is not the first outbreak of Ebola,

Porque non é o primeiro brote de ébola,

it will not be the last,

e non será o derradeiro,

e hai moitos outros microbios aí fóra á espreita,

and there are many other microbes out there that are lying in wait,

like Lassa virus and others.

como o virus Lassa e outros.

And the next time this happens,

E a próxima vez que ocorra,

it could happen in a city of millions, it could start there.

podería suceder nunha cidade de millóns, podería comezar aí.

It could be something that's transmitted through the air.

Podería ser algo transmitido a través do aire.

Mesmo espallado intencionadamente.

It could even be disseminated intentionally.

And I know that that is frightening, I understand that,

E sei que iso é aterrador, enténdoo,

but I know also, and this experience shows us,

pero tamén sei, e esta experiencia amósanolo,

that we have the technology and we have the capacity

que temos a tecnoloxía e temos a capacidade

to win this thing,

para gañar esta batalla,

to win this and have the upper hand over viruses.

para gañar e ter vantaxe sobre os virus.

But we can only do it if we do it together

Pero só poderemos facelo se o facemos xuntos

e se o facemos con alegría.

and we do it with joy.

So for Dr. Khan

Así que polo Dr. Khan

and for all of those who sacrificed their lives on the front lines

e por todos os que sacrificaron as súas vidas nas trincheiras

in this fight with us always,

desta loita con nós,

estaremos ao seu lado nesta loita, sempre.

let us be in this fight with them always.

And let us not let the world be defined

E non deixemos que o mundo se defina

by the destruction wrought by one virus,

pola destrución forxada por un virus,

but illuminated by billions of hearts and minds

senón pola luz de millóns de corazóns e mentes

working in unity.

traballando en conxunto.

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Aplausos)

(Applause)