The Ministry of Health has ordered the provincial health departments and relevant agencies to strictly monitor the health of foreign visitors entering the country, particularly those from Ebola-hit areas after this deadly virus has claimed hundreds of lives in a number of African countries.
The Ministry of Health has ordered the provincial health departments and relevant agencies to strictly monitor the health of foreign visitors entering the country, particularly those from Ebola-hit areas after this deadly virus has claimed hundreds of lives in a number of African countries.
Nguyen Chi Dung, director of the HCMC Preventive Medicine Center, said as HCMC is a big tourism and economic hub, thousands of foreigners come to the city a day, including those from Africa. In addition to increased controls on the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the city is also taking preventive measures against the spread of the Ebola virus.
When visitors are detected with Ebola symptoms, they must be immediately brought to isolation at HCMC’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Their medical samples will be tested at Pasteur Institute in the city.
Nguyen Van Sau, director of the International Health Quarantine Center in HCMC, noted that the symptoms of Ebola are similar to those of Mers-CoV including a sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and internal and external bleeding in some cases. The incubation period is two to 21 days with possible infection to other entities when these symptoms of the disease start to manifest themselves.
Therefore, it is necessary to take visitors’ temperatures as soon as possible and pays close attention to those people coming from Africa. Health officials and representatives of relevant agencies will isolate those with the aforesaid symptoms immediately to perform necessary tests.
Dung advised medical agencies should be informed of the people suspected of being affected with the Ebola virus and those traveling from the Ebola-affected areas within 21 days to provide necessary assistance and help prevent fatal risks.
Health officials said Ebola first appeared in Sudan in 1976 with more than 600 individuals contracting the virus. Outbreaks have since occurred in 11 African nations and are likely to spread to other countries.
Particularly, 1,323 people were infected with Ebola, with 729 killed in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria from December last year to July this year. A number of health workers have also contracted the virus with a few fatalities recorded.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. It is introduced into the bodies through close contacts with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of the infected animals or patients.
The organization also regards Ebola as one of the deadliest diseases known to mankind, in which the virus can easily spread in blood and paralyze the immune system.
(Source: SGT)
