The Roots of Conspiracy and Fear concerning the Ebola Outbreak Anthony Jacqueminot August 4th 2014 There can be no doubt that numerous efforts to treat or eradicate infectious diseases in Africa have continually been met with local suspicion and hostility. Word of mouth in African locales seems to travel nearly as fast as the vectors carrying their suffering. The list of pathogens is far and ranging, from Northern Nigerians fearing the Polio vaccine to be the plot of Western sterilization clinics to HIV being an expansive and long term solution to the "African Problem". Granted Africans unwittingly concede that their own governments remain co-conspirators, but with continued complaints in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone of the people being used as frankly "guinea pigs", could there in fact be some odd, peculiar, kernel of truth? And if not "the" truth, "their" truth? With Anti-Western sentiments on the rise in West Africa is it time for the west, the U.S. in particular, to cease in patriarchal foreign relations and aid and attempt to recognize fully why such feelings are growing? What we know. That at some point in late March cases of Ebola in the Southeastern districts of Guinea were evident. By the 25th of March the Guinean Ministry of Health officially reported an outbreak of Ebola to the World Health Organization with as many as 80 plus cases confirmed across 4 provinces. By the end of March, the CDC deployed a 6 man team to assist in Conakry which by this time had confirmed reports that Ebola had in fact reached the capital of 2 million. The European Commission also quickly granted €500,000 in order to assist in containment. Despite early efforts, by June the virus had spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, reaching both capital cities in mid-June claiming the lives of both citizen and medical workers eventually claiming the life of renowned Ebola expert Dr. Umar Khan. It was also in mid-June that Médecins Sans Frontières declared the outbreak to be "out of control". By July, appropriate travel advisories along with the subsequent closings of borders in order to limit travel in the region were issued even as the first and only American casualty of the virus, Patrick Sawyer, arrived in Lagos. Days later two more Americans would contract the virus while working in Liberia, missionaries Dr. Kent Brantley and Nancy Writebol both of Samaritans Purse. Samaritans Purse in a valiant effort to save the lives of Dr. Brantley and Mrs. Writebol got in contact with an unnamed member of the National Institute of Health who referred them to an experimental drug that may give the two at least a fighting chance of being treated in the U.S. To wide media coverage, Dr. Brantley arrived in Atlanta and was quickly shuttled to Emory Hospital where he is receiving care. Mrs. Writebol should be arriving within days. As of now, the outbreak of Ebola
has claimed nearly 900 lives with nearly 1600 cases. Although Ecowas, the World Health Organization and the CDC have stepped up efforts, Ebola has yet to be fully contained. What we do not Know I am of the mind that in order to have meaningful ties to a nation or region you must be able and willing to empathize with its grievances. If you do not or are unable to politically accept their grievances then eventually relations will cool. Throughout this outbreak, it has become apparent just how deeply anti-western the region has become over time. The mistrust of locals with medical officials has been blamed for the reason of Ebola's stubborn persistence. Aside from poverty and a miniscule health care system Guinea, they say, suffers from ridiculous superstition. I am to blame as well for I have certainly been guilty of lofting this very same charge at continental Africans. So in keeping with my international philosophy, I have begun a process of understanding their grievances; to find the roots of conspiracy and fear. For the local, the biggest mystery is where the virus came from. Everyone knows that Ebola is native to Africa but not this region. Major Ebola outbreaks have infamously occurred in the Great Lakes region and the DRC but not thousands of miles away in Guinea. Expert of tropical viruses at Tulane University Daniel Bausch stated in an article on Popular Science on this very subject, that it is highly unlikely that an infected human brought the disease to the area because "A human would have to travel a long distance" and further that there are no cases of Ebola currently present in Central Africa which would undoubtedly precede an outbreak in other areas. Further, rumors that the strain ravishing the hinterlands of Guinea is a new and more virulent form of the virus has been discredited. On the subject of how Ebola arrived in the region intelligentsia’s best theories are that some undiscovered species of tropical bat is the mystery vector. Not much. An even more perplexing issue is of course the mystery medical treatment received by the two American missionaries. Africans have been continually preached to that Ebola has no cure, which has had the adverse effect of giving off the impression of hopelessness when being treated in an international clinic, but now with news of a treatment that has saved Americans how can they perceivably trust international workers on the issue? Mixed signals. What does not Add up On the 20th of March, only days before any reports of an Ebola outbreak, the National Institute of Health awarded a consortium of 15 institutions 28 million dollars over five years in order "to find an antibody “cocktail” to fight the deadly Ebola virus" to be led by Erica Ollmann Saphire a professor at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. The brief press release goes on to explain that the antibody treatment began as early as 2012 and that several labs had successfully stopped the virus. The program
also will focus on other more widespread hemorrhagic viruses of the same family such as Lassa fever and Marburg virus. Institutions awarded the grant included Saphire's own lab, Zalgen labs with interest in rapid test kits for hemorrhagic viruses and the now famous Mapp Biopharmaceuticals with its subsidiary Leaf holding the patent for the drug ZMapp which was used on the two Americans to great effect. The test kits for Ebola and Lassa themselves have grabbed traction, in June the NIH awarded Corgenix 2.9 million dollars even though in the press release they maintain that there is no cure for Ebola. It is well known that Ebola outbreaks are rare, but we do know that Lassa and Marburg are much more common and widespread with confirmed cases in the millions every year. The potential for sustained profit with these cousins of Ebola far outstrip the profits for Ebola itself. The markets responded quickly to news of a treatment. Pharmaceutical company Tekmira's stock rose to an all-time high on merely the rumor that the Canadian institutions treatment would be used in West Africa but quickly fell after the FDA allowed the home grown Mapp Biopharm to use its drug, after all, Mapp had just received financial compensation before the outbreak in order to find a cure. A paper trail. A Narrative I can think of no other place on Earth than Africa that has suffered man's well-meaning intention. Is it conceivable to rule out foul play? Was Ebola released artificially upon a population and conveniently in a region where Lassa fever is also endemic? Do the locals, albeit in blunt terms, have a reason to suspect that foreigners or a sole foreigner brought with him one of the world’s most deadly viruses? Is it a coincidence that days before the outbreak the very same company who now holds a patented treatment for Ebola received generous grant money from the NIH? Did Mrs. Writebol and Dr. Brantley, while doing Africa the greatest service, become unwilling participants in a scheme to profit and as a mere coincidence the very first place the publically unnamed NIH representative referred Samaritans Purse to was Mapp Biopharm? Why were Africans continually lied to about Ebola itself; told that there was no treatment when in fact labs had been working on treatments as far back as 2012? Was the terrifying example of Ebola used to shock funding out of a currently conservative and budget cutting Congress into an area of research that has been long neglected? Were conservative members of Congress deceived by a well-meaning intelligentsia? With funding being granted before the outbreak even I can see how this could suggest that money was not a factor, but if planned well, and with collaborators within the NIH, this could also suggest a concerted effort at plausible deniability. A cleaner crime could suggest a well-planned crime. That such prestigious minds could be merely motivated by profit I highly doubt, but the chance at receiving international recognition and accolades for eradicating Ebola or Lassa fever would be a more substantial profit for intelligentsia. On the one hand, Lassa and Marburg could be dealt with to great effect
which is a positive step for Africa. On the other, a crime is a crime and the affected African states deserve answers and compensation for being used in such a way even if it is for a greater good. I am by no means insinuating that this is true, but merely revealing a plausible narrative designed to show how easy it is for Africans to perceive this outbreak and others as the plot of American profit seekers. In order for us to have a healthy, productive relationship with the region we need more transparency, regardless of if it is for financial aid or medical philanthropy. The United States cannot afford to allow West Africa to slip away into xenophobia and anti-western sympathy. We should continually seek to reassure that our motivations are positive if only to more fully appreciate the delicate history of the region at large. As to the unsettling chain of "coincidences" perhaps further pressure and investigation will be required if at least in order to prove that there is no foul play present. An investigation would go a long way into reassuring Africans that the US means business as it pertains to the health and wellbeing of its relations. Trust. Rest in Peace to all those killed by this virus including Patrick Sawyer and Dr. Sheikh Umar Khan.