The Ghana Health Service has issued an Ebola alert following an outbreak of the disease in the north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Congolese health authorities say at least seventeen people have died from Ebola so far.
Outlining measures authorities had put in place to avert an outbreak, a member of the PR unit at the Ghana Health Service, Douglas Adu-Fokuo, said: “We have been able to issue the statement to the media to make sure that we educate the public on the means or ways that the Ebola infection comes or spreads from one person to the other. We have also sent an alert to all the regional directors and Chief Executives of hospitals and all other relevant institutions.”
‘Report cholera cases’
He also outlined measures they had in place to avert an outbreak of cholera and advised the public to report such cases to the nearest hospitals.
“We have started engaging in public education, and as we speak, we have also started circulating some of our materials on the means and ways by which cholera transmits, and the ways in which we can prevent it. It is just not about the alert, but we trying to educate the public so much to the extent that we can ensure good practices.”
About Ebola
Ebola disease is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by Ebola virus.
Signs and symptoms typically start between two days and three weeks after contracting the virus with a fever, sore throat, muscular pain and headaches.
The disease has a high risk of killing between 25 and 90 percent of those infected, due to low blood pressure from fluid loss, and typically follows six to sixteen days after symptoms appear.
Prevention includes limiting the spread of the disease from infected animals to humans.
This may be done by handling potentially infected bushmeat only while wearing protective clothing and by thoroughly cooking it before eating it.
It also includes wearing proper protective clothing and washing hands when around a person with the disease.
Ebola in DRC
Outbreaks of Ebola have only occurred two dozen times since Ebola first was recognized in the DRC in 1976; this is the ninth outbreak to emerge in the DRC.
They typically are contained by infectious disease control methods, but a West African epidemic exploded in 2014, sickening more than 28,000 people and killing 11,000 before it ended.
An Ebola vaccine that worked well in a clinical trial in Guinea held in 2015, has yet to be approved by regulatory authorities but could be used under emergency protocols.
This is the ninth outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in Congo since 1976.
Ebola caused alarm globally in 2013 when the world’s worst outbreak began in West Africa – killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Liberia was only declared free of active Ebola virus transmission last June.
The WHO has warned that the virus could resurface at any time, as it can linger in the eyes, central nervous system and bodily fluids of some survivors.
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By: Marian Ansah/citinewsroom.com/Ghana