Only in movies and television shows has an infectious, “zombie”, disease existed. However, in the African country of Uganda, a real life one seems to exist. No this disease does not turn people into flesh eating zombies. Instead, the disease gives its victims epileptic type symptoms, leading to severe mental and physical handicaps. This disease is known as the “Nodding Disease.”
After a child is infected, they become restless and have trouble thinking. They then begin to have constant head nods which eventually lead to seizures. These symptoms leave many of the children unable to think, or move correctly. Many children can only use their arms to drag themselves. In many cases, children have to be tied up for their own safety. “Reportedly the children gnaw at their fabric restraints, like a rabid animal.” Thus, the children are like zombies, unable to think and move correctly.
After a child is infected, they become restless and have trouble thinking. They then begin to have constant head nods which eventually lead to seizures. These symptoms leave many of the children unable to think, or move correctly. Many children can only use their arms to drag themselves. In many cases, children have to be tied up for their own safety. “Reportedly the children gnaw at their fabric restraints, like a rabid animal.” Thus, the children are like zombies, unable to think and move correctly.
“Nodding Disease” gets its name from the intense nodding of the head it gives its victims. Over 3,000 children in Uganda are affected by this disease. No cure or origin has been found for this disease. However, scientists believe that the disease might come from a parasitic worm found in black fly bats called Onchocerca Volvulus.
The disease affects the child’s nervous system, much like polio. After damaging the nervous system, the disease attacks the brain, stopping it from developing and eventually stopping the child’s growth. No one has yet to recover from this disease.
The disease causes its victims to have difficulty thinking which can lead to death. 200 secondary deaths have been reported due to the disease. Unfortunately, doctors can only cure the epileptic symptoms since there has been no cure discovered.
This article reminded me of our current polio unit. The fact that the children affected from this disease are unable to physically function properly relates to polio crippling its victims. There are also similarities between the two diseases in how they affect the victim. Both diseases attack the nervous system, which leads to the handicapping of the person affected in a mental or physical way. Also, infants were at high risk of developing polio. So far, the nodding disease has high rates of infection within the early childhood years as well.
I think this article is important because it seems to me like“modern polio.” Though this disease is only found in Uganda, its effect on its victim is very similar besides the seizures and mental handicaps. I think it is also important to note that no child has recovered from this disease. People were able to recover from polio, but this disease is permanently crippling. It is sad to see children in already horrid living conditions having to worry about something as overwhelming as this.
Reading this the first thing that came into my head was Polio. This "nodding" disease takes over the nervous system and there is no known cause of it either. I wonder if this disease can be passed from person to person or do you contract it by a bite or eating something. This kids have a hard life to start with, and then have an awful disease like this, no one should be put through that and have their childhood taken away.
ReplyDeleteThis article just shows the unfortunate state of the world, which is no matter how many diseases have a cure, a new incurable one will appear. But, there is always a chance of finding a cure, which made me think of polio, a disease once thought to be incurable as well. I did wonder though, how a person becomes infected with this disease, and if it jumps species, like the H1N1 virus. Also, it seems like this disease has only affected children, but it also seems like it can be spread from child to child. I feel like this would be a great thing for epidemiologist to start investigating as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Zack, it is very sad. And I agree with you when I first saw the picture, I thought it was a post about polio too and after reading it I can see we weren't far off. I hope like Cristina said that for everyone's sake this disease does not spread human to human, because it sounds like we aren't even close to understanding this disease at all. Fear of the unknown. It comes up all the time with disease, and hopefully this disease will be cure sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Annie. I believe that there is hope to find a cure/vaccine for Nodding Disease. This post reminded me of the video that we watched in class today. Although it took extreme effort, India was recently declared Polio free. If no more cases of Polio appear in India, the country will soon be declared as having eradicated Polio. This is significant because it shows that no matter how daunting a task may seem, it can be achieved with effort and compliance. However, I think it is very sad that once a child gets Nodding Disease, there is no hope that they will make a full recovery. I wonder if Nodding Disease will remain endemic in Uganda or if it will spiral into an epidemic or pandemic.
ReplyDeleteThis article immediately caught my attention within the title. It is sad and shocking to find out there are still horrifying diseases like this one without cures, even with all of our medical advances. Even though the disease seems prominent in Uganda it could have the possibility to spread. Hopefully in the near future there will be a cure.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that came to my mind when reading this was polio, the picture and the symptoms remind me so much of polio. I think this article is so scary thinking about those poor kids makes me very sad. It is also scary that there is no cure for it and children are suffering for survival. It also was very scary to see that kids are dying and there is not anything to help them. Even though it is only in Uganda, I feel like this could easily spread especially without a cure. This article really made me think about what the living conditions must be like in Uganda. I think people should really start looking and help find a cure for this horrible disease.
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