If you have ever wondered about some of the 'strange and myserious' diseases I encounter in South Sudan, then this article is for you. Click on the link above to view the article, or you can visit http://www.ghfn.org/home.htm to hear more.
I recently came across a new global health news reporting agency, Global Health Frontline News, that has several videos and written reports about this baffling disease.
Unlike malaria, tuberculosis, and other more common diseases I've seen in Mundri, Nodding Disease has no known cure and the course and cause of symptoms is still a mystery.
Prior to arriving in South Sudan, a doctor formerly working in Lui, South Sudan with Samaritan's Purse had informed me about Nodding Disease. Then, during one of my first few days working in the Mundri Health Center, the head clinical officer said he needed to ask me about this strange disease that he was seeing, Nodding Disease, as he presented a young patient to me. He then went on to explain to me the signs and symptoms and possible etiologies. Since those first few days at the health center, I have seen numerous patients with the disease. Though anti-seizure medications are often prescribed, they do not seem very effective. Patients exhibit a characteristic child-like appearance, malnutrition with obvious wasting, and significant mental decline. It affects children, primarily between 5-15 years old, though we have started to see some older individuals with new onset symptoms. Often those affected were completely normal in appearance and cognitive functioning prior to the onset of symptoms. And to date, no one has ever recovered from the disease.
When thinking about such illness, and how much we, as humans, do not know about science and the external world, I am all the more compelled to cling to God's sovereignty. Though we have made tremendous advances in the medical realm, there is still so much yet to be discovered.
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