Guinea boosts health measures to control Ebola
Print Edition
GUINEA has declared a public health emergency over an Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 1,000 people in three West African states and is sending health workers to all affected border points.
An estimated 377 people have died in Guinea since the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola began in March in remote parts of a border region next to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Guinea says its outbreak is under control with the numbers of new cases falling, but that the new measures are needed to prevent further infection from the other countries at the center of the epidemic.
“Trucks full of health materials and carrying health personnel are going to all the border points with Liberia and Sierra Leone,” Aboubacar Sidiki Diakit, president of Guinea’s Ebola commission, said yesterday.
As many as 3,000 people are waiting at 17 border points for a green light to enter the country, he said. “Any who are sick will be immediately isolated. People will be followed up on. We can’t take the risk of letting everyone through without checks.”
Sierra Leone has declared Ebola a national emergency as has Liberia, where two of its doctors diagnosed with Ebola could start treatment yesterday with some of the limited supply of experimental drug ZMapp.
Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp is also exploring the possibility of making more of its experimental Ebola treatment, Chief Executive Officer Mark Murray said.
Nigeria, which has also declared a national emergency, yesterday said it had 11 cases of Ebola after a doctor who treated a Liberian man who brought the disease to Lagos fell ill.
Health experts say the responses of governments to the contagious hemorrhagic disease need to be calibrated to prevent its spread while avoiding steps that could induce panic or damage economies unnecessarily.
The task is made more difficult because the capacity of health services in the three main countries has been stretched to breaking point and mistrust of health workers among some rural communities is high.
In addition, 170 healthcare workers have been infected with Ebola and at least 81 have died among the overall toll of 1,069 people, according to the World Health Organization. Three of the dead are in Nigeria.
Economic impact
One of the deadliest diseases known to man, Ebola kills the majority of those infected. Its symptoms include internal and external bleeding, diarrhea and vomiting.
Ebola also threatens significant economic ramifications for some West African states as disruption to commerce, transport and borders lasts at least another month, said Matt Robinson, a vice president at Moody’s ratings agency.
Among the signs of the regional economic impact, Ivory Coast will not allow any ships from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to enter its port at Abidjan, a port statement said.
“Anybody presenting symptoms similar to Ebola on board a ship must be made known to port authorities,” it said.
Ivory Coast and its eastern neighbor Ghana have recorded no cases of Ebola. Ghana’s government said it would step up its funding for preventative health and ban the holding of international conferences for three months as a precaution.
Further afield, Korean Air Lines Co Ltd said it will suspend flights to and from Nairobi, Kenya, from August 20 to prevent the spread of the virus.
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