Doctors named the causes of the Yavoriv epidemics
After Boleslavchyk and Sukhodolsk, any infective episode immediately receives broad publicity. The situation in four villages in Yavoriv district, Lviv oblast is a graphic illustration of this. Without waiting for the experts’ conclusion, the residents of Verbliany where the biggest number of cases is registered named themselves another Boleslavchyk. Speaking to journalists, they claimed categorically that they suffer precisely because of the Italians testing “God knows what kind of ammunition” at the Yavoriv training facility.
However, on October 7 an expert committee including the crОme of Ukraine’s pediatricians, toxicologists, and epidemiologists stated quite the contrary. Indeed, the fact that 400 persons, among them 337 children, fell ill from September 24 to October 7 causes anxiety. Simultaneously, according to Serhiy Berezhnov, head of the Public Health and Epidemiology State Department at the Health Care Ministry, thirty tests of free air, twelve of drinking water, two of foul water, and two of the ground water rule out any influence from chemical factors. To all appearances, the epidemics are of mixed aetiology, meaning that a mixture of a number of infections caused the growth of morbidity. Among these infections parapertussis, acute respiratory disease, and flu were already specified. The hospitalization rate also indicates that the military is not implicated with the mass morbidity in Verbliany, Koty, Dubrovytsia, and Starychy. As of October 7, nineteen persons were under treatment at the local hospital. The results of their drug treatment prove that the committee’s preliminary conclusion was correct.
However, so far medical workers are refraining from any categorical statements, which is only natural, considering that the investigation of the reasons for the Yavoriv epidemics will last at least until October 18. However, it is already clear that the training ground is not to blame for the current situation. Local residents’ state of health does not differ in the least from Ukraine’s average. In the words of Mykola Prodanchuk, director of the Institute for Ecological Hygiene and Toxicology, the radioactive background in the training ground’s vicinity is normal. Another hypothesis claiming that the Italians were testing ammunition containing depleted uranium in Yavoriv also proved to be false.
The experts say this was obvious from the outset. If there had been any chemical agent, the disease would have spread equally fast among adults (recall that at present only 15% of those who became ill are adults) and livestock. Since at present it is mostly children who complain of dry coughing and general intoxication, it is obvious that a “children’s infection” is among the factors causing the morbidity growth — exactly what parapertussis is. Moreover, in September and October children fall ill more frequently, which is caused by the change of their environment connected with summer vacations.
On the other hand, some blank spots in the Yavoriv issue remain. For example, it became known that similar symptoms were revealed among the military. Thus, it is still unclear who was the source of the infection, as well as why the flu epidemics started from the West instead of South and North Ukraine as they usually do. Simultaneously, it is certain that the psychological factor affected the scale of the epidemics. Mr. Berezhnov compared the Yavoriv situation to Boleslavchyk where completely healthy persons (or suffering from ordinary scabs) told the doctors that they have toxicodermititis “exactly like Vanya’s who lives across the street.” In Mr. Berezhnov’s view, this is a chain reaction: one case of one disease or another in a village leads another three persons to claim the same diagnosis. Thus, the committee’s preliminary conclusions are quite reassuring. The main thing is not to panic. As for the future, in such situations psychologists should work together with doctors. Western experience proves the expedience of such a tandem.
