Development

Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralysing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus.

Fuelling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika.

The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa devastated that region through 2014 and 2015, with more than 11,000 dead, putting the rest of the world on alert and spurring many nations to lend support to the fight against the hemorrhagic fever.

As part of the Canadian government’s contribution against the epidemic, a total of 79 CAF health care and support staff deployed to Sierra Leone in three different rotations from December 2014 to May 2015. The mission, dubbed Operation SIRONA, sent personnel to the UK’s Kerrytown Treatment Unit. The facility wasn’t tasked with caring just for local patients, but rather with caring for the local and international health care workers who had been exposed to the Ebola virus.

Sekou Camara, 20, was among the first to volunteer to conduct safe and dignified burials with the Red Cross Society of Guinea when the Ebola outbreak began two years ago. Despite his young age, Sekou Camara dedicated himself to fighting Ebola, acquiring valuable experience along the way. When the outbreak was declared over, Sekou was ready for a new challenge and turned his sights to surveillance activities.

Volunteering became a passion for Sekou five years ago when he joined the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. An orphan, Sekou grew up with his grandmother, and because of their modest living conditions, was forced to end his education after completing primary school. The local committee of the Red Cross in Kaloum became his second home where he distinguished himself through his diligence to volunteer service. “I consider the Red Cross as my second family because there I found the love and warmness of a home. It is with great pleasure and satisfaction that I bring my modest contributions to relief efforts,” says Sekou with his usual smile.