Once a true gemo was recognized, as distinct from a lesser spate of illness in the community, Acholi cultural knowledge dictated a program of special behaviors, some of which were quite appropriate for controlling infectious disease, whether you believed it was caused by spirits or by a virus. These behaviors included quarantining each patient in a house apart from other houses; relying on a survivor of the epidemic (if there were any) to provide care to each patient; limiting movement of people between the affected village and others; abstaining from sexual relations; not eating rotten or
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