How we'll fight the next deadly virus
-
0:01 - 0:04You may never have heard
of Kenema, Sierra Leone -
0:04 - 0:05or Arua, Nigeria.
-
0:05 - 0:09But I know them as two of the most
extraordinary places on earth. -
0:10 - 0:15In hospitals there, there's a community
of nurses, physicians and scientists -
0:15 - 0:17that have been quietly battling
-
0:17 - 0:19one of the deadliest threats
to humanity for years: -
0:19 - 0:21Lassa virus.
-
0:21 - 0:23Lassa virus is a lot like Ebola.
-
0:23 - 0:27It can cause a severe fever
and can often be fatal. -
0:27 - 0:31But these individuals,
they risk their lives every day -
0:31 - 0:34to protect the individuals
in their communities, -
0:34 - 0:37and by doing so, protect us all.
-
0:37 - 0:40But one of the most extraordinary things
I learned about them -
0:40 - 0:43on one of my first visits
out there many years ago -
0:43 - 0:44was that they start each morning --
-
0:44 - 0:49these challenging, extraordinary days
on the front lines -- by singing. -
0:50 - 0:53They gather together,
and they show their joy. -
0:53 - 0:55They show their spirit.
-
0:55 - 0:56And over the years,
-
0:56 - 0:59from year after year as I've visited them
and they've visited me, -
0:59 - 1:01I get to gather with them and I sing
-
1:01 - 1:03and we write and we love it,
-
1:03 - 1:07because it reminds us that we're not
just there to pursue science together; -
1:07 - 1:09we're bonded through a shared humanity.
-
1:10 - 1:14And that of course, as you can imagine,
becomes extremely important, -
1:14 - 1:17even essential, as things begin to change.
-
1:17 - 1:22And that changed a great deal
in March of 2014, -
1:22 - 1:24when the Ebola outbreak
was declared in Guinea. -
1:24 - 1:27This is the first outbreak in West Africa,
-
1:27 - 1:29near the border
of Sierra Leone and Liberia. -
1:30 - 1:33And it was frightening,
frightening for us all. -
1:33 - 1:35We had actually suspected for some time
-
1:35 - 1:37that Lassa and Ebola were more
widespread than thought, -
1:37 - 1:40and we thought it could
one day come to Kenema. -
1:40 - 1:42And so members of my team
immediately went out -
1:42 - 1:45and joined Dr. Humarr Khan
and his team there, -
1:45 - 1:48and we set up diagnostics to be able
to have sensitive molecular tests -
1:48 - 1:51to pick up Ebola if it came
across the border -
1:51 - 1:52and into Sierra Leone.
-
1:52 - 1:55We'd already set up this kind
of capacity for Lassa virus, -
1:55 - 1:56we knew how to do it,
-
1:56 - 1:58the team is outstanding.
-
1:58 - 2:01We just had to give them
the tools and place to survey for Ebola. -
2:01 - 2:03And unfortunately, that day came.
-
2:03 - 2:08On May 23, 2014, a woman checked
into the maternity ward at the hospital, -
2:08 - 2:12and the team ran
those important molecular tests -
2:12 - 2:16and they identified the first
confirmed case of Ebola in Sierra Leone. -
2:16 - 2:18This was an exceptional
work that was done. -
2:18 - 2:20They were able to diagnose
the case immediately, -
2:20 - 2:23to safely treat the patient
-
2:23 - 2:26and to begin to do contact tracing
to follow what was going on. -
2:26 - 2:28It could've stopped something.
-
2:28 - 2:31But by the time that day came,
-
2:31 - 2:33the outbreak had already
been breeding for months. -
2:33 - 2:37With hundreds of cases, it had already
eclipsed all previous outbreaks. -
2:37 - 2:40And it came into Sierra Leone
not as that singular case, -
2:40 - 2:42but as a tidal wave.
-
2:42 - 2:44We had to work
with the international community, -
2:44 - 2:48with the Ministry of Health, with Kenema,
to begin to deal with the cases, -
2:48 - 2:50as the next week brought 31,
-
2:50 - 2:54then 92, then 147 cases --
all coming to Kenema, -
2:54 - 2:57one of the only places in Sierra Leone
that could deal with this. -
2:58 - 3:01And we worked around the clock
trying to do everything we could, -
3:01 - 3:04trying to help the individuals,
trying to get attention, -
3:04 - 3:06but we also did one other simple thing.
-
3:07 - 3:10From that specimen that we take
from a patient's blood to detect Ebola, -
3:10 - 3:12we can discard it, obviously.
-
3:12 - 3:16The other thing we can do is, actually,
put in a chemical and deactivate it, -
3:16 - 3:19so just place it into a box
and ship it across the ocean, -
3:19 - 3:20and that's what we did.
-
3:20 - 3:22We sent it to Boston, where my team works.
-
3:23 - 3:27And we also worked around the clock
doing shift work, day after day, -
3:27 - 3:30and we quickly generated 99 genomes
of the Ebola virus. -
3:30 - 3:34This is the blueprint -- the genome
of a virus is the blueprint. -
3:34 - 3:35We all have one.
-
3:35 - 3:37It says everything that makes up us,
-
3:37 - 3:39and it tells us so much information.
-
3:39 - 3:42The results of this kind of work
are simple and they're powerful. -
3:42 - 3:45We could actually take
these 99 different viruses, -
3:45 - 3:46look at them and compare them,
-
3:46 - 3:49and we could see, actually,
compared to three genomes -
3:49 - 3:52that had been previously
published from Guinea, -
3:52 - 3:56we could show that the outbreak
emerged in Guinea months before, -
3:56 - 3:58once into the human population,
-
3:58 - 4:00and from there had been transmitting
from human to human. -
4:00 - 4:02Now, that's incredibly important
-
4:02 - 4:04when you're trying to figure out
how to intervene, -
4:04 - 4:06but the important thing
is contact tracing. -
4:06 - 4:10We also could see that as the virus
was moving between humans, -
4:10 - 4:11it was mutating.
-
4:11 - 4:13And each of those mutations
are so important, -
4:13 - 4:16because the diagnostics, the vaccines,
-
4:16 - 4:17the therapies that we're using,
-
4:17 - 4:21are all based on that genome
sequence, fundamentally -- -
4:21 - 4:22that's what drives it.
-
4:22 - 4:25And so global health experts
would need to respond, -
4:25 - 4:26would have to develop,
-
4:26 - 4:28to recalibrate everything
that they were doing. -
4:29 - 4:32But the way that science works,
the position I was in at that point -
4:32 - 4:33is, I had the data,
-
4:33 - 4:36and I could have worked
in a silo for many, many months, -
4:36 - 4:38analyzed the data carefully, slowly,
-
4:38 - 4:42submitted the paper for publication,
gone through a few back-and-forths, -
4:42 - 4:45and then finally when the paper came out,
might release that data. -
4:45 - 4:47That's the way the status quo works.
-
4:47 - 4:50Well, that was not going to work
at this point, right? -
4:50 - 4:51We had friends on the front lines
-
4:51 - 4:55and to us it was just obvious
that what we needed is help, -
4:55 - 4:56lots of help.
-
4:56 - 4:57So the first thing we did is,
-
4:57 - 5:00as soon as the sequences
came off the machines, -
5:00 - 5:01we published it to the web.
-
5:01 - 5:04We just released it to the whole world
and said, "Help us." -
5:04 - 5:06And help came.
-
5:06 - 5:07Before we knew it,
-
5:07 - 5:09we were being contacted
from people all over, -
5:09 - 5:12surprised to see the data
out there and released. -
5:12 - 5:14Some of the greatest
viral trackers in the world -
5:14 - 5:16were suddenly part of our community.
-
5:16 - 5:18We were working together
in this virtual way, -
5:18 - 5:21sharing, regular calls, communications,
-
5:21 - 5:24trying to follow the virus
minute by minute, -
5:24 - 5:26to see ways that we could stop it.
-
5:27 - 5:31And there are so many ways
that we can form communities like that. -
5:31 - 5:36Everybody, particularly when the outbreak
started to expand globally, -
5:36 - 5:39was reaching out to learn,
to participate, to engage. -
5:40 - 5:41Everybody wants to play a part.
-
5:41 - 5:44The amount of human capacity
out there is just amazing, -
5:44 - 5:46and the Internet connects us all.
-
5:46 - 5:49And could you imagine that instead
of being frightened of each other, -
5:49 - 5:51that we all just said, "Let's do this.
-
5:51 - 5:54Let's work together,
and let's make this happen." -
5:54 - 5:56But the problem is that the data
that all of us are using, -
5:56 - 6:00Googling on the web, is just too limited
to do what we need to do. -
6:00 - 6:03And so many opportunities
get missed when that happens. -
6:03 - 6:06So in the early part
of the epidemic from Kenema, -
6:06 - 6:08we'd had 106 clinical records
from patients, -
6:08 - 6:11and we once again made that
publicly available to the world. -
6:11 - 6:15And in our own lab, we could show
that you could take those 106 records, -
6:15 - 6:19we could train computers to predict
the prognosis for Ebola patients -
6:19 - 6:20to near 100 percent accuracy.
-
6:20 - 6:23And we made an app
that could release that, -
6:23 - 6:25to make that available
to health-care workers in the field. -
6:25 - 6:29But 106 is just not enough
to make it powerful, -
6:29 - 6:30to validate it.
-
6:30 - 6:32So we were waiting for more data
to release that. -
6:32 - 6:35and the data has still not come.
-
6:35 - 6:37We are still waiting, tweaking away,
-
6:37 - 6:40in silos rather than working together.
-
6:40 - 6:42And this just -- we can't accept that.
-
6:42 - 6:46Right? You, all of you,
cannot accept that. -
6:46 - 6:48It's our lives on the line.
-
6:48 - 6:49And in fact, actually,
-
6:49 - 6:52many lives were lost,
many health-care workers, -
6:52 - 6:54including beloved colleagues of mine,
-
6:54 - 6:58five colleagues:
Mbalu Fonnie, Alex Moigboi, -
6:58 - 7:02Dr. Humarr Khan, Alice Kovoma
and Mohamed Fullah. -
7:02 - 7:04These are just five
of many health-care workers -
7:04 - 7:06at Kenema and beyond
-
7:06 - 7:09that died while the world waited
and while we all worked, -
7:09 - 7:11quietly and separately.
-
7:11 - 7:13See, Ebola, like all threats to humanity,
-
7:13 - 7:17it's fueled by mistrust
and distraction and division. -
7:17 - 7:21When we build barriers amongst ourselves
and we fight amongst ourselves, -
7:21 - 7:23the virus thrives.
-
7:23 - 7:24But unlike all threats to humanity,
-
7:24 - 7:27Ebola is one where
we're actually all the same. -
7:27 - 7:29We're all in this fight together.
-
7:29 - 7:32Ebola on one person's doorstep
could soon be on ours. -
7:32 - 7:35And so in this place
with the same vulnerabilities, -
7:35 - 7:37the same strengths,
the same fears, the same hopes, -
7:37 - 7:41I hope that we work together with joy.
-
7:42 - 7:45A graduate student of mine
was reading a book about Sierra Leone, -
7:46 - 7:48and she discovered that the word "Kenema,"
-
7:48 - 7:51the hospital that we work at and the city
where we work in Sierra Leone, -
7:51 - 7:56is named after the Mende word
for "clear like a river, translucent -
7:56 - 7:57and open to the public gaze."
-
7:57 - 7:59That was really profound for us,
-
7:59 - 8:01because without knowing it,
we'd always felt -
8:01 - 8:04that in order to honor the individuals
in Kenema where we worked, -
8:04 - 8:09we had to work openly, we had to share
and we had to work together. -
8:09 - 8:10And we have to do that.
-
8:10 - 8:14We all have to demand that
of ourselves and others -- -
8:14 - 8:17to be open to each other
when an outbreak happens, -
8:17 - 8:19to fight in this fight together.
-
8:19 - 8:22Because this is not the first
outbreak of Ebola, -
8:22 - 8:23it will not be the last,
-
8:23 - 8:26and there are many other microbes
out there that are lying in wait, -
8:26 - 8:28like Lassa virus and others.
-
8:28 - 8:29And the next time this happens,
-
8:29 - 8:32it could happen in a city of millions,
it could start there. -
8:32 - 8:35It could be something
that's transmitted through the air. -
8:35 - 8:37It could even be
disseminated intentionally. -
8:37 - 8:40And I know that that is frightening,
I understand that, -
8:40 - 8:43but I know also,
and this experience shows us, -
8:43 - 8:46that we have the technology
and we have the capacity -
8:46 - 8:48to win this thing,
-
8:48 - 8:51to win this and have
the upper hand over viruses. -
8:51 - 8:53But we can only do it if we do it together
-
8:53 - 8:54and we do it with joy.
-
8:55 - 8:56So for Dr. Khan
-
8:56 - 9:01and for all of those who sacrificed
their lives on the front lines -
9:01 - 9:03in this fight with us always,
-
9:03 - 9:06let us be in this fight with them always.
-
9:06 - 9:08And let us not let the world be defined
-
9:08 - 9:10by the destruction wrought by one virus,
-
9:10 - 9:13but illuminated by billions
of hearts and minds -
9:13 - 9:14working in unity.
-
9:14 - 9:15Thank you.
-
9:15 - 9:22(Applause)
- Title:
- How we'll fight the next deadly virus
- Speaker:
- Pardis Sabeti
- Description:
-
When Ebola broke out in March 2014, Pardis Sabeti and her team got to work sequencing the virus's genome, learning how it mutated and spread. Sabeti immediately released her research online, so virus trackers and scientists from around the world could join in the urgent fight. In this talk, she shows how open cooperation was key to halting the virus ... and to attacking the next one to come along. "We had to work openly, we had to share and we had to work together," Sabeti says. "Let us not let the world be defined by the destruction wrought by one virus, but illuminated by billions of hearts and minds working in unity."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 09:37
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How we'll fight the next deadly virus |