“A rotavirus outbreak that
has affected some 3,000 people in Swaziland over the past three weeks has
resulted in 36 fatalities, according to a Swazi Observer news report today.
Image/CDC
In an announcement by Prime
Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, 3,042 cases of diarrhea due to
rotavirus were treated in outpatient departments of hospitals countrywide.
More than 500 children affected required hospitalization for their illness.
Dlamini
assured the public that all treatment requirements for the management of
the disease have been distributed to all facilities and health workers have
been refreshed on case management and treatment guidelines.
According to the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rotavirus disease is most common in
infants and young children, but adults and older children can also become
infected with rotavirus. It is responsible for the death of over
600,000 children annually worldwide. Once
a person has been exposed to rotavirus, it takes about 2 days
for symptoms to appear.” http://outbreaknewstoday.com/thirty-six-deaths-reported-in-swaziland-rotavirus-outbreak-41120/
Rotavirus hit the El Roi Baby Home too and it took its toll
on three of our babies (Elisha, Seth and Roy). For more than a week there was good news and bad news. The good news was that earlier this
year we were able to purchase vaccines against Rotavirus and vaccinate all of
our babies between ages 2-4 months and NONE of those babies got sick. The bad news is that not all of our
babies come to us before 4-months of age and many others were past that age
when we were able to buy the vaccines so that is why several got sick. Elisha
and Seth recovered quickly as Brooke and her team of amazing Aunties focused on
rehydration. The bad news was that
Roy was really sick (vomiting and diarrhea for more than a week) and just
didn’t seem to be getting better.
On Friday I got a call that he had turned the corner to health and was
doing so much better. We dodged a
bullet AND did it at our new infirmary (quarantine building) at the Children’s
Campus while not incurring any costs from having to have our babies in the private
hospital in town.
We give thanks to El Rofi (the God who heals) for healing all
our babies.
Live from Swaziland … we are doing a lot of extra hand
washing.
Janine
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.