BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - HEALTH officials in the Federation are closely monitoring the Ebola outbreak in Africa and are putting measures in place to prevent the deadly outbreak in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Minister of Health the Hon. Marcella Liburd while giving an address in the National Assembly on Monday (Aug. 18) assured that the government was making prevention a priority and that there is surveillance at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport.
“I just want to let the public know, according to the experts, it is not transmitted by air, or food, or water, or mosquitoes, or rodents.
“CARPHA has assessed the Caribbean situation as low risk for the importation of the Ebola virus by a traveler. The Ministry of Health however has stepped up its surveillance of all travellers at the airport. We have also…held discussions with the management of the institutions that have students coming from the affected parts of Africa.”
She however stated that Health officials on island stand ready to deal with any Ebola case if they occur.
“In the unlikely event of an Ebola case in the Federation the Ministry of Health personnel are prepared to carry out the necessary responses. The general public is therefore asked to remain calm and avoid alarmist media reporting.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Ebola first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, in Nzara, Sudan, and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
“Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
“Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.”
WHO also informs that since the Ebola virus has been discovered, in excess of 3,700 human cases have been reported and more than 2,300 deaths.
