Nairobi At the University of Helsinki Professor Tarja Sironen And in December, his research team had exciting places.
They were in eastern Africa in Rwanda, where Marburg virus, causing bleeding fever, had caused the widest outbreak of disease for nearly 20 years. Infected had been infected 66 people, 15 of whom died.
The Marburg virus spreads from fruit bats. The researchers knew which cave was most likely to start moving. Sironen and his group went to catch bats at the mouth of that cave.
– Yes, this was definitely the most frightening trip I’ve made, says Sironen.
He is a professor of threatening infectious diseases and examines zoonoses, or animal -transitioned diseases such as Marburg’s disease. Zoonose also stick to one species to another.
Sources: THL, WHO
Sironen’s group of caught bats for a study that explores where bat populations have a virus and where people are in danger of getting the disease.
The group went through precisely how to work and dress at the mouth of the cave so that they would not get a virus and would not spread for them.
– We said we could do this. We have done this kind of work before, and bio -safety is our expertise, says Sironen.
In the video below, he tells about his mood at the mouth of the cave.
Bats are spread over new areas in Rwanda
Sironen’s group took samples from bats and then lowered them to continue their flight.
In the same place, the US Infectious Disease Agency CDC is also intending to do the research. Its researchers are attaching transmitters to bats to monitor animal movements.
The outbreak of disease that started in Rwanda in September is now over. It did not develop into an epidemic, which would mean that the disease would not be quickly restrained.
However, according to the Rwanders, bats are spread over new areas and have more caves and mines. There are also bats in Kigal, the capital.
Sironen tells in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, about his research. He has returned a few days earlier in Tanzania, where the virus suffered from people after Rwanda.
In Tanzania at least eight people Has died of Marburg’s disease and the situation is not over yet.
Under the peak time of zoonose
Sironen ended up in East Africa to investigate the Marburg virus at the request of the Rwanda authorities. The work is part of the research coordinated by the World Health Organization. In addition to the University of Helsinki and the CDC, local researchers and doctors are involved in the support of EU authorities.
Now the study is expanding to Tanzania. Here, too, the purpose is to find out where the virus spread and how it grabbed people.
The world is currently living in the peak of zoonose, says Sironen. Before the Marburg virus on the African continent, M-vaccine spread. Koronan is remembered by everyone.
Animals also suffer a lot.
“We have a lot of animal disruptions, not only here in Africa, but also in Europe and the United States, actually all over the world,” says Sironen.
According to him, the prevalence of zoonose and animal illness is probably due to how man has shaped the earth: climate changes, as well as land use and food production. Sironen anticipates that outbursts of disease will continue to be seen much.
He emphasizes that this is a global problem.
Initially, two -thirds of all human infectious diseases have been zoonose. Of the new diseases, there are up to three quarters of zoonose.
What can be done to curb the situation?
According to Sironen, it is important to be able to identify the diseases at an early stage – before they begin to spread from one person to another.
“We could also prevent outbreaks of disease if we live more sustainable on the earth,” says Sironen.
In practice, this would mean, for example, slowing down climate change and preventing species. Food production should avoid over -consumption, and animal health should be taken care of, Sironen lists.
Even in Tanzania
Sironen visits Kenya a few times a year. In Kenya, he has studied Ebola and rodent and bat-mediated diseases in particular.
Soon Sironen will travel again to Rwanda. There, his group is studying samples taken from bats in December. The group conducts studies with locals. At the same time, the idea is that knowledge and skills are moving forward.
Later, Sironen is heading again to Tanzania, where the work list has batches of bats.