HYDERABAD: Anyone reaching the end of their formal education would be familiar with the experience of family and well-wishers making suggestions as to which career to embark on. Prof Peter Piot, who co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, too had such an experience.
In his final year of medical school, Piot, who was interested in microbes and epidemics, approached his professors for career counseling. “Their verdict was unanimous: no future in infectious diseases. But I always believed that you should follow you passion and that is what you will do well. And I went for infectious diseases, microbiology,” Piot said, speaking to Express.
Growing up in Belgium, Piot, now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, was inspired and intrigued by a museum of leprosy in his neighbourhood. After his second-year of training in infectious diseases, he became part of a team that went to Africa, where an epidemic was reported, to investigate how the virus transmitted and how can it be stopped. Piot spoke to Express on the disease and other matters.
1) As co-discoverer of Ebola virus, what went through your mind during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa?
In the beginning, I must say when I heard about it in West Africa, I thought this is like we have seen before. It’s only after I saw where the cases in capitals of three countries were, in slum areas of three countries, that I said this is different. This is something different and I got worried because I know the only thing you can do for Ebola is isolation, provide some supportive treatment, quarantine. And you can do that in rural areas. But once you are in big city, just imagine Hyderabad, I mean it is not possible.
2) Did anybody from Indian government contact you at that time on how to avoid spread of Ebola?
The answer is yes. We had discussions with Health ministry, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).
3) Was Ebola outbreak contained in any other country by a borderline?
It was. Actually, at the same time there was a small outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And that was brought under control in about three months by local means, local diagnosis.
But it was in a rural area and they did a great job. So it shows that if you act early, it makes a difference. Because in epidemics, the longer you wait, every time you wait then someone becomes infectious, the infection becomes bigger and bigger.