E=mc2

Albert Einstein is shown having written his famous formula on the blackboard correctly, something incidentally that  I fail to do in this blog.  But what does it mean?   I have a book on my shelf called 'Why does E=mc2 ? and why should we care.' I have read a third of it three times over the past couple of years, unfortunately each time it was the first third. So I am no expert, in fact I am hardly informed at all. But for all you Dr Who fans , and anyone else who is interested, I have good news ,time travel is possible. We all do it every day into the future one second at a time. Yes , it is also theoretically possible to move in to the future at different speeds, but one thing is sure E=mc2, we can never move faster than the speed of light and so we can never go back in time. Which means that we should be careful what we  say and do in the present ; a word spoken , an action taken now can never be  undone. If we cannot  move faster than the speed of light in order to put things right, correct our mistakes; we need Gods help to do it.  As we move into the future ,John,  tells us how to  get round the problem of our  past mistakes , we still need to make use of light.

 

'God is light ........... if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son purifies us from all sin' 1 John 1 (5-7). This is more important than understanding  E=mc2 and Einsteins theory of relativity, although I  personally would like to do both. Perhaps one day.

Time travel is actually easier  for medical doctors than Time Lords.  Look at Ebola , as we watch  the unfolding tragedy in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are we looking into our common future? Now as the epidemic has got out of hand and threatens to spread to the rest of the world new and major resources are being rightly deployed to try and limit the spread and find vaccines and treatments.  The future is before us, lets pray for solutions, and do our part to work for it too.

I have spoken with the local District Medical officer and we know  which phone numbers  to contact for transfer of possible cases  to an isolation unit. Sue White has organised our triage service to ask about foreign travel, in case of fever;  hand washing with dilute bleach for everyone that enters the hospital  as required by the Ministry of Health; and our local improvised personal protection equipment box (wellie boots, waterproof paper gowns, double gloves, hats , face masks and visors).  Noel Johnson bought a couple of no touch thermometers from the US. We have had some good advice from Eric Bafende who has had first hand experience of the epidemic in Macenta, Guinea.  At GII we are doing our bit but Chad would be so vulnerable to an epidemic, much more like Guinea which has an ongoing problem  than Nigeria, our neighbour, that successfully rose to the challenge and  was recently declared Ebola free after successfully containing 8 cases. Please pray ,medical time travel into the future is inevitable but we can all play our part to shape the destination.

 Incredibly medical time travel is also possible into the past. I was late home a couple of weeks ago having told Andrea that I would just quickly check if there was anything urgent in the Emergency room before our evening meal. I was gone some time, back 50 or more years, in the first bed was a child  with  diphtheria and in the second an old man with tetanus.

The poster comes from a campaign from the UK in the early 1960's, when I was born and immunised. There were a million cases of diphtheria in Europe in 1943 with 50 000 deaths, ask around your family you will find a parent or  grandparent who either had it or knows someone who did. Diphtheria pertusus and tetanus vaccination went nationwide in 1948, a priority project for the new NHS.  It is a rapid great success story,  50 cases in 1957 and here was only one reported case  of diphtheria in the UK in 2013. 

Not surprisingly I have never seen a case before but spotted the typical appearance on the tonsil of the first suspected  child who came in with a febrile fit and 'malaria' . He was immediately  isolated and started on penicillin. The next day a typical case with a bull neck and laryngeal obstruction came in which confirmed my suspicions and the district medical officer and the WHO were informed. We have had a further two cases since with one death. We have penicillin to treat the inflamed throat but there is no specific antitoxin in the country to combat the effects of the toxin on the heart and nervous system.  At least we have our vaccination programme for children started last  but as yet most of the population are not protected.

The old man with tetanus had a leg fracture with a small wound that had been treated elsewhere and was nearly healed. Despite this the tetanus spores had got in and he sadly died of respiratory insufficiency after 24 hours, a ventilator and intensive care bed is simply not affordable for most people in Chad. (a new private  hospital opened last year with such facilities but that is a new service  for the very rich). We have treated 3 adults  in 4 years and he was the first fatality. It is so much easier to vaccinate. Look at the experience in the USA over the last century, a five  thousand fold reduction in deaths. ( PS the scale is logarithmic)

So as we walk into the future, let us work and lobby ( both God and politicians)  so that all the citizens of the world can walk into the same future at the same speed ,  meeting its new  challenges together and not leaving some needlessly in the past

 Mark and Andrea

PS :      For further reading why not try

The great ideas that shaped the world - Pete Moore
Why does E=mc2 ( and why should we care) - Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

The Bible  - Multiple authors, One source of inspiration