Viruses

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:34

Kijabe Girls School was quarantined last week due to a swine flu outbreak. We hospitalized two of the girls, but they recovered quickly, and all the other students had only mild illness – just like standard influenza. We hear about the intense vaccination efforts in America and other countries, but there will be no vaccine here, just the virus.

To prevent the spread of swine flu, we’ve been taught to wave, not shake hands. Posters tell us how to avoid it, and what to do if we get it. One poster even says, “If your pigs have flu-like symptoms, call the nearest veterinary doctor.” I laughed – my pig has a sore throat, aches and pains, and a bad headache?

There’s another virus we care much more about here, called HIV. It’s ravaging Kenya and other parts of Africa, breaking up families and leaving many orphans behind – perhaps 2 million AIDS orphans in Kenya alone. Most HIV patients in Kenya are women and children. Here’s what UNICEF said in a recent report:

In African countries that have already suffered long, severe epidemics, AIDS is generating orphans so quickly that family structures can no longer cope. Traditional safety nets are unraveling as increasing numbers of adults die from HIV-related illnesses. Families and communities can barely fend for themselves, let alone take care of orphans. Typically, half of all people with HIV become infected before they are aged 25, developing AIDS and dying by the time they are 35, leaving behind a generation of children to be raised by their grandparents or other adult relatives, or left on their own in child-headed households.

In this area, “child-headed households” means hungry street boys and young prostitutes.

I have 6 patients with complications of AIDS on the ward right now. Susan is 29 and very ill. We’re treating her aggressively for the infections she has. Rachel, 31, has become blind from what we suspect is an enlarging mass in her brain – perhaps a tuberculoma from TB, or perhaps a tumor. We’re hoping her family can find money for a CT scan in Nairobi, so we can understand what is happening to her. Kambua, age 29, has TB, syphilis, anemia, and a fever. Dainah, age 37, has meningitis due to an unusual germ called Cryptococcus. We’re also checking her for other infections. Rakeli, age 46, has anemia, pneumonia, renal failure, and amoeba in her intestines. And Bosteha, a 32 year old Somali woman, has TB, anemia, a very large liver and spleen, and an open area on her neck that won’t heal.

A marvelous legacy of the Bush administration is the African AIDS relief program he signed into law. It’s a great program that helps thousands of Kenyans get effective anti-HIV treatment so they can avoid many of the infections that my patients suffer from. Unfortunately, the vast majority don’t enroll, and Susan and the others will likely die of AIDS in the next year or two, leaving motherless children behind. Sadly, the factors that keep the epidemic going, primarily sexual promiscuity, show no signs of letting up. So we continue to battle the effects of this virus and work to bring comfort and hope to those who are afflicted with it.

Dorothy, one of our chaplains, spoke this morning at our weekly physicians’ prayer meeting. She said that each of us harbors another virus – the “virus” of God’s love and forgiveness. She encouraged us to spread it to others, touching them as much as possible. Dorothy said this is a good virus to have, worth sharing with those around us, for each of us has a deep need in our heart for His love and forgiveness. She’s right.

- Doug