- Nonessential travel to Ebola affected countries like Guinea and Sierra Leone should be avoided.
- If travelling is unavoidable, then the following points should be kept in mind-
- Check what all is covered under your health insurance in case you get ill while on your trip. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends people travelling to Guinea to have full coverage for emergency medical evacuation.
- Hygiene should be practiced carefully. Hands should be washed frequently with soap and water or using a hand sanitizer.
- Any kind of contact with body or body fluids such as saliva, urine, vomit, sweat, faeces, semen and breast milk should be avoided.
- Since contact with body fluids need to be avoided, hence any items that may have come in contact with infected person’s blood or body fluids should not be handled.
- Participating in burial rituals or funerals should be avoided. No contact with dead bodies should be made.
- Sexual transmission of Ebola is yet to be studied more deeply. Hence sexual contact with a man recovered from Ebola should be avoided. Contact with such person’s semen during oral, vaginal or anal sex should not be made. Condom should be used during sexual intercourse.
- Contact with animals, especially bats and monkeys should be avoided. No contact with meat whether cooked or raw should be made.
- Meat of wild animals which are hunted for food should not be eaten or handled.
- Facilities in West Africa where treatment of Ebola patients is being carried on should be avoided to be visited
- If on your visit, you get fever 4°F / 38°C or above or other Ebola symptoms such as severe headache, fatigue, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain or any unexplained bruising / bleeding, you should immediately seek medical attention. Do not travel anywhere else after developing any such symptoms and avoid contact to other people while on your way to doctor.
- Those who will be working in healthcare settings should wear personal protective equipment. Proper infection control and decontamination measures should be adopted.
Ebola , the deadly disease that has taken over the central and west Africa, this year, is nothing new to the continent. The disease has been affecting the people of the continent since 1976 when it was recognized in Zaire (now called Democratic Republic of Congo).This year's outbreak is the largest Ebola Outbreak in the history and it is important that we make ourselves aware. So here are some facts that one needs to arm themselves with to handle any situation about Ebola : Origin: Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a disease caused by one of the five different Ebola Viruses. Four out of these viruses are known to cause fatal diseases in humans and other mammals, while the fifth one is not fatal for humans, animals are not that lucky, though. The natural reservoir of the virus is believed to be bats, particularly fruit bats, but is seen frequently in apes, monkeys and pigs as well. Spread : Ebola spreads through the transmission of bodily fluids from animals to humans and from humans...