The Horror of Zika in Haiti

Claudy (Photo by Karen Bultje)

blogs.pjstar.com - by John Carroll, MD - July 6, 2016

A wonderful friend of ours, Karen Bultje, who is a missionary in Haiti, has been caring for a young man named Claudy in her home for several days. Claudy lives in the Kenscoff mountains above Port-au-Prince. He recently became ill with a high fever, rash, and severe pain. He also began having weakness in his legs which prevented him from walking. His mother and family carried him down the mountains and he went by motorcycle taxi and tap-taps to Karen’s home in Port.

Karen and her nursing staff took Claudy to a local hospital where he was examined but he was sent back to Karen’s home. They said there was nothing they could do for Claudy. The family is not able to pay for care in any local private hospital in Port and the public hospitals are on strike.

The worry tonight is that Claudy has Zika virus (not proven yet) with a neurologic complication of Zika called Guillain-Barré. Guillain-Barré is an autoimmune disease that attacks the nerves exiting the spine which can cause weakness and numbness in the legs. If the paralysis progresses it can paralyze the diaphragm and make breathing impossible. Claudy is still breathing ok but we don’t know for how much longer. (Zika most likely causes microcephaly too which is a neurologic disaster for the newborn.)

Tonight Karen’s staff took Claudy to another hospital in Port-au-Prince. This hospital has two ventilators and both are being used. So Claudy is being observed in triage and if his breathing becomes difficult, his trachea will be intubated and he will be manually bagged to keep him alive.

Karen is searching for a helicopter to transport him to the new hospital in Mirebalais which is about two hours by road from here. However, it is dark now and nothing can happen until morning regarding transport.

Scientists believe Zika has been in Haiti since 2014—long before it was obvious that Zika was spreading fast in Brazil. Officially no cases of Zika were reported in Haiti until January 2016. Since then there have been more than 2,600 cases of Zika reported here. This number underestimates the true cases for many reasons. (Most people infected with Zika are not ill, hospitals in Haiti often don’t test for Zika, and patients have no money to pay for the test in the first place.)

Conditions in Haiti are perfect for the Zika virus to cause extreme suffering. Mosquitos, poverty, and lack of hospitals all contribute to this disaster.

If you are a praying person, please pray for Claudy and Karen and her team. Claudy most likely has a reversible condition. He just needs some technologic support (a ventilator) to get him over this hurdle.

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org

http://blogs.pjstar.com/haiti/2016/07/06/the-horror-of-zika-in-haiti/