Unknown Disease

The Phenomenon

Unknown Disease

04 | The Phenomenon

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The reason behind this sudden outbreak are difficult to discern.

Astrid

"Astrid," Pagtawag ni Mom sa pangalan ko at mahigpit akong niyakap pabalik.

"Ash anong ginagawa mo rito? Alam mo namang delikado pero bakit pumunta ka pa rin?" Sabi ni kuya sa likod na papalapit na sa amin.

Inirapan ko na lang siya bilang sagot.

"Bakit ba ang tigas ng ulo mo lil' sis?" Sabi niya bago ginulo ang buhok ko nang makalapit siya sa 'kin.

"Bakit ba ang hilig mong manggulo ng buhok?" Angil ko sa kanya.

He keeps on doing that every time we see each other. Hindi ko ba alam sa kanya.

"Where's Dad?" Tanong ko nang hindi ko nakita si Dad sa loob.

"He's at the Test Room," Sagot ni Mom na ikinataka ko.

"Huh? Anong ginawa ni Dad do'n?" I ask out of confusion.

"Maupo muna tayo at Astrid anak puwede mo munang tanggalin ang mask na suot mo." Gaya ng sabi ni Mom ay kaagad kong tinanggal ang mask na suot ko at maingat itong dinispose sa basurahan. I always dispose mask after used and sanitize my hands before and after wearing it. It's better to be safe than sorry.

"I know you're aware on what is happening, am I right?" Tanong ni Mom habang nakatinginan sa amin ng seryoso ni Kuya Cyrus.

I just nodded as a response. I'm aware lalo na't nakita at nasaksihan ng dalawa kong mata ang kasalukuyang nangyayari sa baba.

"As of now we don't know what kind of disease or virus it is, but it's rapidly spreading all over the city as you notice. Nangangamba na kami sa maaaring mangyari kapag tumagal pa ito. Before you and Cyrus knew it, a patient a week ago came with the same sickness. No'ng una akala namin normal lang 'yon hanggang sa napansin namin ang pag-ubo niya ng dugo. Agad kaming na alarma ng ilang minuto matapos ng kanyang pag-ubo ng dugo ay nahimatay ang nurse na nag-aasikaso sa kanya at nakitaan namin siya ng kaparehas na sintomas na mayroon ang pasyente. Do'n namin napagdisyunang ihiwalay sila sa ibang mga pasiyente," Pagkukwento ni Mom.

Listening to her makes me shiver in fear. Fear that it may affect all the people in the Philippines. I can't bear to see people, us in that situation. Viruses are deadly. They kill twice as many people as cancer does like the last pandemic happened on the 20s. It wreak havoc to the whole world and kill millions of people. Viruses have spent billions of years perfecting the art of surviving that's why its so hard to kill it. It takes a lot of time to find the vaccine for the virus. Understanding how viruses work and learning how the human immune system deals with virus is very critical and takes big time.

"Have you reported it to the government? Nagtataka kasi ako kung seryoso ang bagay na ito bakit wala man lang kaming naririnig tungkol sa mga gobyerno ni balita ay wala?" Takang tanong ko kay Mom.

"We did. Infact nang malaman namin ito ay kaagad naming ni report at pinaalam agad sa mga nakakataas, but they insist to cover it up. Ayaw nilang magsanhi ito ng panic sa mga tao sa Pilipinas that's why they remain silent and they even block sites and article na nag-uusap patungkol sa isyung ito to prevent it from spreading." Hindi ko napigilang hindi mainis at madismaya sa sinabi ni Mom.

"Sana man lang sinabi nila sa mga tao. Para aware ang lahat sa maaring mangyari in case. Bakit kailan nilang itago ito? See what's happening now," hindi makapaniwalang sagot ko sa sinabi ni Mom. Kung sana ay ipinaalam nila sa mga tao ng mas maaga ay baka maiwasan ang pagdami ng kaso rito sa Sta. Mesa, but they didn't and now nanganganib na maging ang karatig na lungsod ay mahawaan ng naturang sakit.

"They never foresee this to happen. Now look what happened," Seryosong sabi ni Kuya Cyrus. I couldn't agree more.

"Upon knowing the situation sinimulan naming i-examine ang patient. Napag-alaman namin na may pagkakahawig ito sa virus na kumalat last year sa Antartic," Pagkukwento ni Mom na agad kong pinutol.

"Wait Mom. You mean the Antartic Flu? aFlu?" Mabilis na tanong ko sa kanya.

It's been spreading widely since last year. Antartic is known to be the coldest continent on Earth. Located at Southern-most edge of the world, Antarctica is filled with towering glaciers and arctic wildlife. Nagsimula siya sa Antartic dahil sa sinasabing pagkain ng mga tao roon 'di umano ng flesh ng fox. Some indigenous groups there even consider foxes to be game animals, using their meat in food preparation.

Hindi sila aware na ito pala ang magsasanhi ng virus. No virus can replicate without the help of a host cell, and though they can be spread, viruses lack the ability of self-reproduction and are not always considered to be living organisms in the regular sense.

Ayon sa mga scientist at doctors, nanggaling ito sa strain ng isang paniki. When they check the DNA structure of the patient napag-alaman nila na nanggaling ito hindi lamang sa paniki. Ayon sa pagkaka-alam ng lahat, owl's one of the biggest predator of bats. On the other hand, predator naman ng fox ang iilang klase ng owl. Iyon ang naturang pahayag ng mga scientist from the USA kung paano nagsimula ang virus. Kaya nang makain ng humans ang flesh ng infected fox ay napasa ito sa kanila.

Gaya ng ibang mga kaso nito sa mga nakaraang daang taon ay halos magkakaparehas lang ng pinanggalingan ang mga viruses na ito, bats. One bat can host many different viruses without getting sick. They are the natural reservoir for the Marburg virus, and Nipah and Hendra viruses, which have caused human disease and outbreaks in Africa, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Australia. They are thought to be the natural reservoir for the Ebola virus and Corona virus. They also carry the rabies virus, but in that case the bats are affected by the disease.

Their tolerance of viruses, which surpasses that of other mammals, is one of their many distinctive qualities. So I'm not surprised anymore about this information.

"Yes. Sa tingin namin na nakaabot na ang epidemyang ito maging sa ating bansa," Nag-aalang sagot ni Mom sa naging tanong ko.

Hindi makapaniwalang napatingin ako kay Mom. Napahigpit ang hawak ko sa upuan dahil sa mga nalaman ko. Hindi ko pa rin ito maproceseso sa utak ko. Halos hindi ko kayang isipin na kasalukuyan na itong nangyayari. It's real and it's happening. How could this happen? Bakit sa panahon pa namin? There are so many thoughts in my head. I couldn't help but worry and overthink about our situation. It's f****d up. It really is.

"Is Dad working on the cure right now?" Tanong ni Kuya Cyrus na bumasag sa katahimikan namin.

"Yes, but we're still examining the patient. Nakikipagtulungan na rin kami sa World Health Organization at Kagawaran ng Kalusugan ukol sa issue na ito," My mom answered at may kinuha siyang folder sa drawer sa table niya na nilapag niya sa harapan ko.

"As of now, we discovered the symptoms of it and how can it pass from person to person and how the virus rapidly spreading through the person's body. The symptoms of it is having an influenza-like and include fever, malaise, myalgia, headache, diarrhoea, shivering and having a red circular spots on any part of the infected's body. Some people especially the very young, elderly, or people who have a weakened immune system may develop a more serious infection, such as bronchitis or pneumonia," Mom explained as we scan through the papers.

I look at the paper and saw some red circular spot on an infected body. It is hard to recognize 'cause it looks like an insect bite.

"We observed the other patient that we've seen symptoms of it. At first parang normal lang naman ang nangyayari sa kanya umuubo man siya pero hindi gano'n kalala na sumusuka na siya ng dugo. But an hour pass, bigla na lang itong nahirapang huminga at bigla na lang siyang nilagnat. The patient shows symptoms of influenza. Mabilis na kumalat sa katawan niya ang virus. Minuto lang ng halos lamunin ang katawan niya nito. Hanggang sa wala na siyang tigil sa pag-ubo na may kasama ng dugo. We tried to inject her some remedy for the influenza's virus pero sinusuka lang ng katawan niya 'yong gamot. Hanggang sa biglang nanghina ang katawan niya. Akala namin wala na siyang buhay, but when we check her pulse rate it's still beating kaya akala namin umepekto na ang gamot, pero ang pinaka nagpagulat sa amin ay nang biglang na lamanag nawalan ito ng pulso ng segundo lang."

Napasinghap ako sa aking mga narinig. It only means one thing. Matagal na itong na-infect sa katawan ng tao at ngayon lang lumabas 'yong sintomas nang mayroong nag-triggered sa mga virus na nasa katawan niya na. Ito ang nagpapaliwanag kung paano mabilis na nilalamon ang katawan ng pasiyente ng virus na ito.

"I know what both of you thinking right now. Yes, posibleng matagal nang nasa katawan ng taong 'yon ang virus kaya mabilis na lamang ito na kumalat. We all know influenza symptoms typically begin two days after exposure to the virus and mostly less than a week. That's why it's still a question to us how the virus spread that fast and show the symptoms when the patient are already convulsioning. We've examine her body and we see inflammation of the respiratory mucous membrane which is one of the causes of influenza. But were still wondering why the heart of the infected person instantly shut down after the body weakens for an hour. Malaki pa ring palaisipan sa amin hanggang sa ngayon. We can't see anything wrong about the patients body. Nasa lab pa rin 'yong dugong nakuha namin dahil maaring nasa dugo ang problema pero papaano? We're still in search for the reason behind it." Sa mga oras na ito dapat kahangaan ko sila dahil sa madaling panahon lamang ang dami na nilang nakuha at nakalap na impormasyon sa sakit na kumakalat. But how? Paano kung mas malaki ang takot na nananalaytay sa akin?

"As of flu it may pass thru saliva. But we're still examining the blood cause it has a probability that it may pass not only on the saliva but also on the infected blood," Dagdag pa ni Mom.

"But how come that even animals are affected by it?" Takang tanong ni kuya that makes me raised my eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" My mom asked.

"Kanina lang pumunta ako sa shop and lots of people were there to consult their pets," Sagot ni kuya na ikinalamig ng aking kamay.

"So, it means that it can infect not only on the persons body but also on animals?" I nervously asked.

"It shows same symptoms on the animal. They also have inflammation on their respiratory. Pero paano? Hindi naman napapasa ang flu sa hayop hindi ba?" Dagdag pa ni Kuya Cyrus.

"Hindi nga ba?" Sabi ng boses na kilalang-kilala ko kung kanino nanggaling.

"Dad," Bulalas ko sa papasok na pigura ng lalaki.

"We all know that a pandemic happens when a new flu virus one we have no or low pre-existing immunity to enters the human population. This can happen through infections in animals such as birds or pigs mutating into a form that makes them infectious to humans. And the exact pathway of animal to humans remains one of the biggest mysteries of that pandemic. You all know what happens decades ago right? The Influenza Pandemic happens in the Spain that kills 50-100 millions of people in a 24 weeks span of time. There have been about 9 influenza pandemic happen 300 years ago and the most recent one is the 2080 flu pandemic and I guess it's happening again. A new phenomenon of influenza is happening again."

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