MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2014) – The Philippines has stepped up measures to monitor possible carriers of Ebola virus that may enter the country, Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
She said the Department of Health is now on high alert to make sure the deadly Ebola virus which has killed scores of people in Africa in recent weeks will not reach the country. She said the government has a standard procedure especially in monitoring airports to track people who may have the disease.
“At siguro dahil na rin doon sa mga naunang experience natin with other contagious viruses that we have dealt with, mas naging matibay ang mga procedure natin and of course, I’m referring to the MERS-CoV. Nagkaroon ulit ng pagsasanay kumbaga ang mga procedure na nasa manual lang natin dati, naisabuhay na ng DOH. In short, the DOH has had practice with it,” she said.
“Right now the DOH is strictly monitoring migrant workers arriving in the country, assessing their origin, and always ready to carry out quarantine measures, especially those coming from countries with reported Ebola infections,” she added.
Health officials have also issued advisories on the importation of exotic animals from Africa which could carry the virus, according to Valte.
According to the World Health Organization, Ebola virus disease, formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
Ebola virus disease outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%. The outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.
Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, in Nzara, Sudan, and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
Ebola virus disease is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes. People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days.
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