By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AS a precautionary measure against the deadly ebola virus, Ministry of Health officials are warning residents not to travel to West Africa unless absolutely necessary.

Travel to that region is not restricted but non-essential travel is strongly discouraged because of the virus, which has killed nearly 900 people in four West African countries and infected more than 1,700.

Noting that the virus has long plagued the area, Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health Delon Brennen said unlike in the past, the virus is spreading over larger areas.

“Anything that is that type of communicable disease is but a plane ride a way,” Dr Brennen said. “The world has people travelling to that region, health care providers are travelling to and from that region, so it is a concern.”

Symptoms

Currently, no protocol is in place to address people who travel to that region, Dr Brennen said, adding: “We have been spreading advice on symptoms. (The virus) is a worsening problem. It’s spreading over larger areas. Ebola outbreaks are not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination but they’re getting more cases than what is usual.”

Bahamian health officials, he said, have been monitoring the virus’ spread for months.

“What we are doing is liaising with international partners through international channels,” Dr Brennen said. “We are receiving updates on an almost daily basis, receiving updates about a number of cases detected and what travel restrictions are and how they are spreading through countries. With that information we are updating our local partners in health care fields so they know what symptoms to look out for and how it’s being spread so if there is an issue, our surveillance system could alert us earlier than if it starts to progress.”

Dr Brennen said steps taken to deal with ebola are similar to protocol for patients with the cholera virus, adding that the Bahamas is equipped to handle a spread of ebola.

Outbreak

“The interesting thing about ebola is it requires standard precautionary measures,” he said. “We do have isolation facilities, protective equipment and a procedure for how to handle patients’ boldly fluids. It’s similar to what you have to do with cholera––there’s a way to handle bodily fluids. It’s just that (ebola) has such a high fatality rate. The current outbreak has a 53 per cent death rate. Sometimes outbreaks have about 90 per cent fatality rate. It’s a bad disease to have come in.”

The current ebola outbreak in West Africa has been described as the worst outbreak of the disease in history, with concern about the virus spreading to Western countries after two American aid workers in West Africa contracted the virus and were brought to Atlanta, Georgia for treatment.

The virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. It is not airborne.

At its outset, symptoms of the virus are similar to those of the flu, featuring fatigue, fever, headache, sore throat and pain in the joints and muscles.

As the virus progresses, symptoms begin to include gastrointestinal illness like abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and loss of appetite.

People with advanced forms of the disease tend to have internal bleeding.

The virus is considered contagious only when symptoms begin to appear.

Despite growing concern over the disease, health officials believe the chances of a wide scale outbreak around the world are low.