MHSC
Senior Moderator
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Recommendations to prevent an Ebola outbreak
PAHO recommendations for the region include creating an Ebola emergency fund, surveillance to detect suspected cases in health centers, isolation for patient management, laboratory tests following biosafety protocols, and risk communication ? with the public and communicators positioned to publicize information about the disease.
The Nicaraguan government has already set up an emergency office to counter the epidemic. The country?s health officials will quarantine anyone who in the past 30 days has visited a country with confirmed cases of Ebola; undocumented immigrants and others suspected of infection will also be isolated. The quarantine will last for at least 21 days, which is the incubation period during which symptoms would be apparent in an infected person.
?[Ebola is] a real threat to the entire world,? Ros?rio Murillo, coordinator of the country?s Communication and Citizenship Council, said October 11.
The Nicaraguan emergency plan also recommends strict health controls at 10 sensitive points of entry to the country. One of them is Pe?as Blancas, on the border with Costa Rica, which is sometimes used by African migrants to enter Nicaragua and continue to the United States. Other emergency measures include isolating planes with suspected cases of Ebola and prohibiting people from getting off ships where someone aboard is suspected of being infected with the virus.
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False alarms
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported more than 9,900 cases of Ebola infections. More than 4,500 of those patients have died; almost all of the infections occurred in West Africa. As of late October, however, Central America remains free of the virus ? despite several false alarms.
For example, in El Salvador, health officials investigated in recent weeks four suspected cases of Ebola involving people who had arrived from Africa. The four people included two Salvadoran soldiers who had joined a peacekeeping mission in Liberia and two nuns from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Following WHO protocols, Salvadoran health officials quarantined the returning soldiers in August and September, and the Congolese missionaries in September and October. But none of the four were found to be infected with Ebola.
More here http://insidecostarica.com/2014/10/27/central-america-caribbean-prepare-stop-ebola/
Recommendations to prevent an Ebola outbreak
PAHO recommendations for the region include creating an Ebola emergency fund, surveillance to detect suspected cases in health centers, isolation for patient management, laboratory tests following biosafety protocols, and risk communication ? with the public and communicators positioned to publicize information about the disease.
The Nicaraguan government has already set up an emergency office to counter the epidemic. The country?s health officials will quarantine anyone who in the past 30 days has visited a country with confirmed cases of Ebola; undocumented immigrants and others suspected of infection will also be isolated. The quarantine will last for at least 21 days, which is the incubation period during which symptoms would be apparent in an infected person.
?[Ebola is] a real threat to the entire world,? Ros?rio Murillo, coordinator of the country?s Communication and Citizenship Council, said October 11.
The Nicaraguan emergency plan also recommends strict health controls at 10 sensitive points of entry to the country. One of them is Pe?as Blancas, on the border with Costa Rica, which is sometimes used by African migrants to enter Nicaragua and continue to the United States. Other emergency measures include isolating planes with suspected cases of Ebola and prohibiting people from getting off ships where someone aboard is suspected of being infected with the virus.
...
False alarms
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported more than 9,900 cases of Ebola infections. More than 4,500 of those patients have died; almost all of the infections occurred in West Africa. As of late October, however, Central America remains free of the virus ? despite several false alarms.
For example, in El Salvador, health officials investigated in recent weeks four suspected cases of Ebola involving people who had arrived from Africa. The four people included two Salvadoran soldiers who had joined a peacekeeping mission in Liberia and two nuns from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Following WHO protocols, Salvadoran health officials quarantined the returning soldiers in August and September, and the Congolese missionaries in September and October. But none of the four were found to be infected with Ebola.
More here http://insidecostarica.com/2014/10/27/central-america-caribbean-prepare-stop-ebola/