Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the Government was stepping up preparations to prevent the highly contagious disease from reaching Malaysia.
Clear instructions have been given to officers at the entry points on what to do to prevent transmissions from travellers.
“Preventive measures include identifying and handling passengers with symptoms, immediately alerting the ministry and referring cases to the nearest hospital. The National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre must also be notified,” he said yesterday.
Similar steps to screen the health of passengers are being taken by airports and airlines around the world, in line with WHO and International Air Transport Associa-tion guidelines.
Emirates suspended flights to Guinea, the first international airlines to do so as a precautionary measure.
“The ministry has to work closely with all agencies at gateways such as the Immigration Department and all those screening passengers upon arrival in Malaysia,” he said.
He said the Health Ministry was also working with the Foreign Ministry to channel information about Ebola to those intending to travel to these countries as well as to Malaysians already there.
“Similarly, the Education Ministry will also advise and screen students returning from these countries,” he added.
Dr Subramaniam said these measures had started the moment the WHO announced there was an outbreak in Africa in March.
He said the Institute of Medical Research had labs that were able to detect Ebola and that all government hospitals had facilities to look after those infected.
WHO has warned that the outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia was moving faster than their efforts to control it.
Its director-general Dr Margaret Chan said the situation could be catastrophic to human life if the situation continued to deteriorate.
To date there have been 1,201 confirmed cases in the countries. More than 670 people have died from the disease since February.
Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with body fluids and tissues of those infected. It has a fatality rate of up to 90%.
Symptoms include high fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and kidney and liver failure.
Meanwhile, Bernama reports that the Health Ministry has set also up a Facebook account – ‘Health Ministry’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre’ – to provide the latest information on disease outbreaks, including dengue fever and the Ebola virus.
Besides media reports and the ministry’s press statements, it also has statements from WHO on the latest statistics on the Ebola outbreak in West African countries, influenza in China and cholera in Ghana.
Other information available includes programmes and activities such as the health screening, mental health screening and psychosocial response intervention for rescue personnel of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
It also provides tips on preventing Aedes mosquitoes from breeding in residential areas, the latest reports on dengue cases nationwide and information on the situation pertaining to infectious diseases abroad.
By Neville Spykerman
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Ebola has similar symptoms with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever
Bacterial Immunology expert Datuk Lim Thuan Seng.
PETALING JAYA, August 3 (Sin Chew Daily) – The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is highly aggressive and infectious but as long as the World Health Organisation and world governments take adequate preventive measures, it is believed that the virus would not spread widely, Bacterial Immunology expert Datuk Lim Thuan Seng said.
He told Sin Chew Daily that the symptoms of EVD include high fever, muscle pain, rashes, vomiting and diarrhea. It is easy to be mistakenly diagnosed as other other illnesses, such as Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever.
"The outbreak of EVD only took place in Africa in the past and the conditions were under control. Patients need to be put under very strict isolation and the disease is particularly dangerous in densely populated areas," he said.
"A tribe in Africa was infected in the past and under the WHO's advice, the whole tribe was quarantined," he added.
He revealed that the incubation period of Ebola ranges from several days to three weeks and the patients will suddenly have high fever and other symptoms. The disease is dangerous as it attacks organs, resulting in visceral bleeding.
"The fatality rate of Ebola is as high as 90% and in other words, only one in 10 patients could survive. Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent the virus, but proper treatment could reduce the risk of death," he said.
He added that treatment includes strengthening patient's immune system, dehydration and protecting organs. However, these are only adjunctive therapies and it mainly depends on patient's immune system to defeat the virus.
Lim said that the recent outbreak of EVD in Africa is worrying as there is migration caused by war. Many have fled the affected areas, increasing the risk of spreading.
He said that the virus mainly spread through human body fluid, particularly blood. However, the saliva, sweat and semen of patients in a particular stage of the disease carry the virus, too.
"Therefore, if you treat wounds without wearing gloves and touched the blood of Ebola patient, or drink water that he or she drinks, or get too close with the patient, you could be infected through his or her saliva," he explained.
Lim said that due to the flow of the world's population, there is a possibility to have EVD in Malaysia. The most important thing is world governments must cooperate, while the people's awareness and vigilance about the virus must be raised.
"The authorities should take the initiative, such as adding questions to the immigration forms to survey whether they have been in affected areas or contacted with animals, which can help in monitoring the disease, as the Ebola virus can be found also in bats, monkeys and other animals," he said.
The Ebola virus was first found in 1976 in Sudan and the Republic of Congo and the virus was named after the Ebola River of Congo.
Medical profession has been committed to identify the origin of the virus but until today, no animal host could survive during the outbreak of the disease. However, some studies suggested that fruit bats might be the natural host of the virus.
Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE
Sin Chew Daily
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