Diarrhea

If you are planning to come visit me (and you should) you should not read the following post because this will not happen to you (hopefully).  Diarrhea is something that just happens.  Shit happens.  However, it happens at a much higher frequency here in Burkina Faso.  I believe the statistic is that Burkina Faso is number two for the highest incidence of diarrhea.  I know you are laughing right now but this is a serious issue in this country.  Unfortunately, there is a high rate of children who die under the age of 4 due to dehydration related to diarrhea.  Besides Ouagadougou, there is no running water.  Water is acquired from a well (which can be a little nasty but is many times the only option) or a pump (which is clean and clear and safe for Africans to drink but may contain some parasites).  That means dishes and food are washed in standing, overused water, hand washing is occasional and usually lacks soap, and the bathroom is a latrine but only if your family is wealthy enough to afford to build one.  We have a lot of fecal-oral transmission as well as cross contamination due to flies.  There is also the possibility of parasites in the water which why I have to filter and bleach all of my drinking water. 

So here is my story.  One night, around midnight, I awoke in a hot sweat (cold sweats don't really exist here), and I knew something was wrong.  I donned my tapettes (flip-flops), pagne, and head lamp, and dashed to the latrine.  It started then and continued for the next four hours.  Every ounce of liquid, of varying viscosity and color, ejected from both ends of my body.  About every 20 minutes I was running back to the dark corner (of hell) where the fire ants nipped at my toes, cockroaches scurried about, and at one point, even a rat came to check my me.  I was feverish and hysterical so I wrapped myself in a wet pagne and laid down on the floor of my hut weeping and exhausted.  I went through two whole rolls of toilet paper that night.  The next day I was transported to Ouagadougou and learned that there was an overwhelming amount of bacteria and giardia in my stool.  Good times.