2023-12-30 23:58:50
In Burkina Faso, the news is marked by a dengue epidemic. According to specialists, the country is facing the most serious crisis linked to this disease. Around the disease which hits hard, misinformation breeds evil and makes it comfortable. The scientific community is being taken to task by rumors reporting that anti-malarial mosquitoes released into the wild are believed to be the cause of dengue fever. There are also rumors that dengue fever was purely created by the WHO because the malaria vaccine was found. Misinformation creates a crisis of confidence with healthcare personnel leading some patients to self-medicate, the abusive use of decoctions thus making the management of the disease complicated. What is it really? Autopsy of disinformation which is corrupting the efforts of the government and scientists in the fight against dengue fever in Burkina Faso.
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“From January 1 to October 15, 2023, a total of 50,478 suspected cases of dengue, including 25,502 probable cases and 214 deaths were reported in Burkina Faso. For the period from October 9 to 15, 2023, a number of 10,117 suspected cases, including 4,377 probable cases and 48 deaths were recorded”.
These alarming figures are from the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Dr Robert Lucien Kargougou, taking stock at the end of the Council of Ministers on October 18, 2023. We are right in the middle of an unprecedented dengue epidemic. in Burkina Faso.
That’s saying something. “It is really a situation of outbreak of cases which exceed what Burkina Faso has been able to report in previous years”, alarms Dr Daniel Yerbanga, Regional Director of Health and Public Hygiene of the Center, incident manager dengue response in the Central region. As of Monday, November 13, 2023, there are 109,908 suspected cases (dengue symptoms), 49,808 confirmed cases of dengue and 511 deaths throughout Burkina.
The Ministry of Health is deploying a battery of response measures with the destruction of mosquito breeding grounds in the two largest cities in the country, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, hard hit by the disease. The dengue test is also made free, awareness-raising communications on methods to prevent or cure the disease are carried out by the ministry in charge of health and its branches. However, it is clear that large-scale disinformation undermines, if not annihilates, the efforts made by the government.
Dr Daniel Yerbanga, Regional Director of Health and Public Hygiene of the Center, incident manager dengue response in the central region
It fuels the spread of the disease and increases the death rate among those affected. It is in fact an aggravating circumstance which exacerbates this epidemic which no longer counts its victims.
More than 500 deaths throughout Burkina in week 45 of the epidemic. Truly, as the disease rages, misinformation spreads around it and makes it more difficult to manage the disease. On social networks, we hear everything about dengue and its occurrence in Burkina Faso.
What is rumored and what is reality
Depending on what abounds on social networks like « information » notably in certain WhatsApp groups, dengue fever was created by the WHO to continue to support the pharmaceutical industries because the malaria vaccine has now been approved.
We were able to count this message in more than 3 WhatsApp groups with more than 1,000 members each. One of the messages which is a voicemail has been shared several times. Wide distribution to draw attention to what he considers to be true. It seems like dengue really makes you crazy!
Rumors which are perplexing and require a minimum of fact-checking. But beyond that, we seek to know enough about dengue fever, malaria and the malaria vaccine so much so that all of this is intertwined for those who spread these gossips. Many confusions are made between malaria, dengue fever, “paludengue”, the malaria vaccine and even the treatment for dengue fever. So, it seemed necessary to us to know what all this hubbub is about.
To do this, we choose to directly reach the summit of Health Science research in Burkina Faso. We are knocking on the door of the National Center for Scientific and Technological Research of Burkina Faso (CNRST). This structure which is at the forefront of research in Burkina Faso, and which makes the voice of Burkinabè researchers audible throughout the world through their results.
Already on October 5, 2023, in the midst of the dengue epidemic, when these false rumors were starting to become too much, we made an appointment with Dr. Hermann Sorgho, researcher at the CNRST. He is from the Nanoro Health Science Research Institute. A dismemberment of the CNRST. Dr Hermann Sorgho is a health science researcher specifically in parasitic immunology. He works at the Nanoro clinical research unit. For 15 to 20 years, he has worked mainly on the malaria vaccine.
He has also carried out work on the genetic structure of populations facing infectious and cardiometabolic diseases. It is well placed to shine our light. On the morning of October 10, 2023, we crossed the usual roar of the city of Ouagadougou to reach the CNRST at 10 a.m. sharp.
In front of the door, a plaque stamped CNRST alerts us that we are in the right place. At the entrance a large building faces us, but that is not where we are meeting. We are going specifically to the Health Sciences Research Institute (IRSS). Another sign shows us the path to follow to reach this branch of the CNRST. We follow the path.
The courtyard is calm, as if to say, silence, here we work. Nevertheless, nature expresses itself there with force. Different species of trees and shrubs express themselves majestically there. Between all these species of trees, shrubs and herbs whose biotope we visibly strive to keep intact, we follow a winding path in this temple of research to reach the IRSS.
Dr Sorgho meets us in front of the IRSS door with a few fellow researchers. After the usual greetings, he agreed to shed some light on the dengue epidemic raging in Burkina, the origins of the disease and the response provided by the government to deal with this disease. Insights that allow us to sort the wheat from the chaff in this flood of rumors.
The IRSS plaque inside the CNRST
It is indeed a chance for us to have him in an interview, because he is part of Professor Tinto’s team which developed the vaccine against malaria in Burkina Faso, in addition to the knowledge he has on dengue fever. . Besides, what is dengue fever, this disease which has plunged Burkina into an unprecedented epidemic? Dengue and malaria diseases with big differences?
The least we can say is that dengue is not a new disease and to hear it, it is a completely different disease from malaria. Between dengue and malaria, it is earth and sky as they say and this is easily demonstrated by Dr Sorgho. The opportunity being the thief, he speaks out on the rumor which accuses the WHO and scientists of having created dengue because the malaria vaccine was developed.
Contrary to rumors, what is really going on with the malaria vaccine?
Dr Sorgho on the malaria vaccine points out to us that it was developed by Burkina. However, the active molecule was discovered by Professor Adrian Hill of the University of Oxford. Also according to his insights, to develop a vaccine, “There are two stages. There is the one who discovers the active molecule and the one who develops the vaccine. Here the one who discovered the active molecule is Professor Adrian Hill from the University of Oxford. He discovered the active molecule and wondered how to make it become a vaccine.
This is where we come in in vaccine development. We take the molecule and we test. This happened in two stages. We test to demonstrate whether the molecule is really effective or not. We first tested and demonstrated that in a reduced population of four hundred (400) people, we can obtain an effectiveness of 80% maximum. And since it was a small group of individuals, we decided to do what we call the final phase of development by testing it on a larger number.
And as malaria occurs in several African localities, it was necessary to include other geographical areas and therefore other countries. This is why we included Mali, Kenya and Tanzania. Where children were also exposed to this vaccine and it was at the end of the analysis of this test that the WHO agreed to recommend the R21 vaccine for use in African children living in areas where malaria is prevalent. ».
After the explanation of this process, we easily understand that the WHO is in no way involved in the manufacture of the dengue virus under the pretext of developing the malaria vaccine, especially since it only intervenes in the approval phase.
Dr Hermann Sorgho, Researcher at the IRSS
Indeed, according to Dr Hermann Sorgho, to achieve a vaccine, there is a whole chain of actors. It is a system where a set of actors interact dynamically to produce the finished product that is the vaccine.
“Scientists find the molecule and other scientists develop the vaccine, the WHO approves the vaccine and we are obliged to cooperate with the pharmaceutical industry to produce the vaccine”, explains Dr Sorgho. So, we can remember that the malaria vaccine has nothing to do with any creation of dengue, and dengue is not a recent creation to enrich the pharmaceutical industries.
We survived dengue
These rumors are not likely to facilitate the care of patients during this period of epidemic, so much so that it discredits researchers and nursing staff. This is fertile ground for self-medication and the use of decoctions.
Health professionals are unequivocal on this issue of misinformation. It is poison for the epidemiological response. The fact that people convey bad information leads patients to self-medicate, the use of decoctions thus aggravating their case.
This is attested by the Regional Director of Health and Public Hygiene of the Center and dengue response incident manager in the Central region, Dr Daniel Yerbanga. We meet him on November 17, 2023 at the regional health directorate in the center to find out more.
Its structure is on the front line in terms of organizing the response to dengue fever. Ironically, a few days after our meeting which focused on the consequences of misinformation on the response to dengue fever in Burkina Faso, we were severely hit by the disease.
We are out of service for almost three weeks. We experience the severe form of the disease with symptoms such as persistent fever, excruciating pain in the shoulder joints, and vomiting accompanied by bleeding.
It was in the emergency room of the Bogodogo University Hospital, that is to say at the top of the Burkinabe health system, that the nursing staff managed to save us. From the small local health district, we arrived at the university hospital when the bleeding started to appear. Anti-fever and anti-bleeding products got us back on our feet so we could continue these lines.
A miraculous colleague!
We will resume service later. A colleague who took a while to see us asked us what was wrong. We let him know that we were affected by dengue fever. “You didn’t know how to do it. It almost got me. As soon as I felt the first symptoms, I bombarded myself. I went to find all the plants and herbs that I know that treat malaria and come boiling. I drank this morning and evening and washed myself with it. In two days it was all over”tells us a colleague from the height of his education.
A miracle. He did exactly the opposite of what doctors recommend in this time of crisis and he could have died. When we were received at the emergency room of the Bogodogo University Hospital, the doctor took care to ask us beforehand what kind of medicines we had taken, if we had taken herbal decoctions or others.
This makes us understand that self-medication and the use of herbal decoctions without controlling the dosage lead to complications in most of the patients they see. Complications that most often lead to death, our doctor tells us. This is to say that our colleague whose name we prefer to keep quiet was lucky.
Many were not so lucky. All of this is dependent on misinformation, and sometimes a lack of trust in healthcare staff. This is what Dr Daniel Yerbanga told us. He makes a heartfelt cry about this situation.
Furthermore, faced with this situation of misinformation, the Ministry of Health is defending itself well. According to Dr Daniel Yerbanga, the Ministry of Health ensures that fair and true information is given by health personnel and by the ministry’s communication actors. According to Raïssa Ouédraogo, Director of Communications and Press Relations of the Ministry of Health, to fight against misinformation around dengue, the Health department did not go out of its way.
Read also → Dengue fever: An operation to destroy larval breeding sites on December 9, 2023 across the entire territory
“Awareness and information campaigns are organized so that the population has the correct information. As soon as the first cases of dengue were announced, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, through its communications department, produced a spot in French, Moore, Dioula and Fulfuldé, to raise awareness among the population about dengue.
A spot broadcast on traditional media and social networks. During this time, we began a series of training courses which provided tools for journalists, community radio actors, interactive show hosts, bloggers and influencers. These training sessions made it possible to integrate all these actors in the fight against disinformation. reveals Raïssa Ouédraogo.
She tells us that “As part of this disinformation, several resource people were made available to the media, at each request, to further enlighten the population on dengue fever and provide good information on the rumors and concerns raised. Also, the ministry’s communications monitoring unit, made up of a diversity of health stakeholders, other ministerial departments, the media, civil society and technical partners, was called upon to collect rumors in order to process them and provide adequate responses”.
To say the least, the growing epidemic is in the process of dissipating. At week 49, statistics show a decline in cases. In week 29, Burkina Faso recorded 5,109 suspected cases of dengue, 2,178 probable cases and 12 deaths, according to ministry figures. However, in week 45, according to these same figures, the country recorded 90 cases of death. The data speaks for itself. The trend is reversing.
Can we say that the response paid off despite the misinformation? Probably yes. The next winter season when there is a peak in mosquito numbers will tell us more. The hope for now is that good practices continue so that we can avoid other serious epidemics in the future.
Read also → Fight against dengue fever: Self-medication, unsanitary conditions and misinformation, the other evils to combat!
Hamadou OUEDRAOGO
Burkina 24
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