As the deadly mutant E.coli strain spreads around the world, one wonders what precisely Ghana's public health authorities are doing to protect the Ghanaian public from this potential menace.
Perhaps an article written by Steven Swinford, of the Daily Telegraph, entitled: "Killer E.coli strain infects first victims in Britain" and posted on the paper's online edition, at 10:06PM British Standard Time (BST), on 02 Jun 2011, ought to be required reading for Ghanaian public health officials - and the more responsible sections of the media in our nation. Please read on:
"Killer E.coli strain infects first victims in Britain"
The deadly new strain of E.coli that has killed 18 people in Europe risks spreading from person to person in Britain, the Health Protection Agency warned last night.
By Steven Swinford: posted online at 10:06PM BST 02 Jun 2011.
As seven cases of the food poisoning bacteria were diagnosed in Britain, the agency said that the mutant strain was so virulent that sufferers risked spreading the infection to friends and relations through close contact.
With more than 30,000 people travelling between Britain and Germany every day, officials fear the outbreak could take hold here.
The agency said anyone who had recently travelled to Germany should be vigilant about their personal hygiene to minimise the risk of passing on the bacteria, which can attack the kidneys with potentially fatal consequences.
The outbreak is on course to be the world’s “biggest ever”, according to one of the country’s leading microbiologists. The agency added that it was shocked by its “unprecedented” scale and severity. More than 1,600 people have been infected worldwide, mainly in northern Germany. Hundreds have been left seriously ill and at least 18 have died.
It emerged last night that the food bug has struck two Americans who had recently travelled to Hamburg. Both are expected to survive but experts warned that the bacteria could be exported to the US.
The World Health Organisation identified the bacterium as a “completely new” mutant strain which was more toxic and infectious than usual varieties. It is resistant to antibiotics and has an eight-day incubation period, which means that the outbreak may not have reached a peak.
It can cause the deadly complication haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) which affects the blood and kidneys. The Food Standards Agency said that contaminated produce had not entered the British food chain, although several supermarkets confirmed last night that they were still importing produce from Germany.
Experts are still unable to say where the outbreak originated, having ruled out the initial theory that it came from a consignment of Spanish cucumbers. Fears have heightened to such an extent that Russia yesterday banned the import of all raw vegetables from Europe.
The HPA said the seven cases diagnosed in Britain involved people who had recently travelled to Germany. Three are seriously ill with the HUS complication. Dr Bob Adak, an expert in gastrointestinal infections at the agency, said his organisation had interviewed the families of those involved and advised them to take precautions to avoid a secondary spread of the bacteria.
“We’re extremely concerned by it,” he said. “We are on the lookout for secondary infections, because it is quite infectious you don’t need many bacteria on your hand to spread it.
“People have got to be very careful, in the first instance those who are most at risk are other family members. People who have been to Germany and come back should be careful with their hygiene.
“If they experience abdominal cramps or diarrhoea they should seek medical advice. This illness can develop and spread very quickly. If you have young children in the house you want to protect them.”
E.coli is usually contracted by eating contaminated food, but it can spread from person to person if the strain is infectious enough. People must be particularly careful to wash their hands thoroughly after using the lavatory.
Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the WHO, said the strain had characteristics which made it “more
virulent and toxin-producing”. Preliminary genetic sequencing suggests that the strain is a new, mutant form of two different E.coli bacteria, according to the WHO. “This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before,” Miss Kruse added.
Unlike previous outbreaks, this strain of E.coli mainly attacks women rather than children or elderly people. More than three quarters of those suffering from serious kidney problems are adult women. Dr Adak added: “The most simple explanation is that because women tend to eat more salad than men and children their risk becomes higher.”
Dr Alexander Mellmann, the scientist who mapped the DNA of the bacteria at the University of Munster in Germany, told The Daily Telegraph that the bacteria had evolved to become more toxic and better at “sticking” to human cells, increasing the chance of infection.
Scientists believe the strain originated in animals such as cattle before spreading to vegetables. The HPA is advising people travelling to Germany to wash salads and to avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and leafy salads.
Tesco yesterday said it has “small quantities” of cauliflower, cabbage and sweetcorn from Germany in its stores, adding that its suppliers observe the “strictest hygiene standards”. Lidl said it stocks cauliflower from Germany.
The seven people infected in the UK include four German nationals and three British people who recently visited Germany. Three of them are seriously ill with HUS. The other four have suffered from bloody diarrhoea.
Germany has reported 470 cases of HUS and 1,064 cases of bloody diarrhoea. Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland have also reported cases, almost all in people who have just returned from Germany.
The Food Standards Agency in Britain has issued general advice on the need to wash fruit and vegetables. Peeling or cooking fruit and vegetables is also known to help remove germs. "
Culled from The Daily Telegraph.
So, there we are, dear reader - the stark facts about the virulent mutant E.coli strain. Not a pretty picture, unfortunately.
Finally, since the availability of potable water is essential in the maintenance of personal hygiene - and personal hygiene is key to preventing the transmission and spread of the deadly mutant strain of the E.coli and many other infectious diseases such as cholera - surely, the time has now come for some creative thinking to be done by the Government of Ghana, in the restructuring of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), so that potable water can be made available on a regular basis (24/7,ie!), to homes as well as other private and state-owned properties nationwide?
We need not reinvent the wheel, in such an exercise. The GWCL most certainly does not need any foreign management, in order to make it an efficient entity. To do so, all the government need do, is to simply give a 20 percent stake in the company, to the management and staff of the GWCL - to change the ethos underpinning its operations for the better: and make it more efficient and productive.
And by floating a further 20 percent stake on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), it will be able to raise capital to inject into the company to re-capitalise it - and in so doing, also enable ordinary Ghanaians to acquire shares in the GWCL: and help turn Ghanaian democracy into a share-owning one, in the process.
To assure the national treasury of receiving dividends from the GWCL for the national development kitty, the government can keep the rest of the shares it holds in the GWCL.
Surely, dear reader, if the present (and future!) top and middle management of the GWCL are offered salary levels that are similar to that enjoyed by their industry counterparts globally (but on condition that they will be fired immediately, if they fail to meet set annual targets!), that will make the GWCL a super-efficient state-owned company?
And should we not do same for all the other strategically important state-owned entities, such as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Volta River Authority (VRA), I ask?
One hopes that the more politically astute members of the regime of President Mills, such as the Hon. Alban Bagbin (a consensus politician par excellence!), the water resources, works and housing minister, will take on board this new paradigm for operating our strategically-important state-owned businesses.
Inter-city STC, comes readily to mind, for example. The government ought to issue long-term bonds to the Social Securitu and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to acquire its 80 percent shares in Inter-city STC - and hand it over to the logistics corps of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), who can then employ a competent civilian management and staff to run it, under their guidance.
If ever the major private-sector bus companies should come together, to try to hold any government of the day to ransom, for any reason, by withdrawing their services, Inter-city STC, will keep the country moving. No politician in Ghana must forget that. Ever.
The Mills regime must not allow the super-clever behind-the-scenes takeover-sharks, who prospered so mightily during the golden age of business for President Kufuor & Co., and who are now ensuring that it is deliberately run down, by remote control, in order to buy it on the cheap, to succeed in their aim.
Ditto the GWCL - for, the regular supply of pure and safe potable drinking water, nationwide, is essential in ensuring and protecting public health in Ghana, above all! A word to the wise...
Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
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