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Ebola Puts Quarantine Authorities on High Alert
China's quarantine authorities have been put on high alert against the Ebola virus, which had reportedly claimed the lives of 54 people in the Gulu district of Uganda by Saturday, following its identification there last Monday (October 16).
Ebola, which first emerged in Zaire in 1976, is a haemorrhagic virus which is spread through human contact with an infected person's bodily fluids and leads to massive internal bleeding, according to a World Health Organization report.
There is no vaccine and no known cure, it said.
In an urgent communique issued over the weekend, the State Administration for Exit-Entry Inspection and Quarantine urged quarantine branches to closely check and track passengers and animals coming from the epidemic area, in a bid to stop the virus from entering China.
It also asked local agencies to offer health tips to people heading to the infected region.
In light of the seriousness of the virus, the administration asked its local branches to hand out information on the epidemic to those bound for northern Uganda.
They are also offering consultancy services to out-going passengers, on international travel hygiene and health care, according to the notice.
"In the case that a passenger from the epidemic region is found to have symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain and conjunctivis, he or she should be isolated and held for prompt checkups," said the notice.
Strict disinfection must be conducted on the belongings of the infected persons, added the notice.
Since the transmission of the Ebola virus also occurs through handling ill or dead, infected chimpanzees in some countries, the notice said that the inspection and quarantine measures should be extended to quadrumana animals and their products as well.
In the case that infected passengers or animals are detected in China, local agencies should deploy "effective control measures" and report the case immediately to higher authorities, according to the notice.
Before the current outbreak in Uganda, the WHO said Ebola fever had claimed around 800 lives in nearly 1,100 documented cases since 1976. [Source: chinadaily.com.cn]
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