Guyana on high alert for Ebola

The Health Ministry is on high alert and has instituted a number of measures in light of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The Ministry has been conducting awareness sessions with various personnel at the Cheddi Jagan International airport (CJIA) including port health workers, customs, and immigration and airline staff.

Guyana was alerted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the Ebola outbreak that commenced late last year, and which has hit West African countries such as Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud said that while there are no reported Ebola cases in South America and the Caribbean, any instance of this disease at this point in time would be as a result of travellers.

Sanitary controls

“We are looking at beefing up additional port health officers on duty so that all incoming flights would be monitored. We have already written through the airport authorities to all the airlines asking them to strengthen their sanitary controls of flights,” the CMO said.

This means that airlines have to prepare a general declaration for each arriving flight, a significant part of which, will relate to health. It will include the identification of any passenger on any flight who may be showing symptoms of Ebola.

Passengers who have passed through or are coming from West Africa (based on their passports and travel itineraries) will be properly screened.

Dr Persaud said that “when we identify those persons, we would hold an interview with them to ensure that they are symptom-free”.

Ebola is described as a very aggressive disease, whereby symptoms manifest in a matter of days. In the initial stage, these symptoms may include high fever, excessive muscle aches, sweating, weakness, headaches, sore throat, and hoarseness. In the second phase, affected persons may experience tell-tale signs such as vomiting, diarrhoea and skin rash.

Meanwhile, the latter stage includes symptoms such as bleeding and organ failure. The CMO assured that once these signs are detected, the Ministry has measures in place to ensure that the disease, which is spread through direct contact, is contained.

There is a port health office at the CJIA; however, the Ministry is working to establish an area that could be identified as an isolation area where additional measures can be put in place.

Health workers are a high-risk group as they will be tasked with caring for persons affected by the disease. As such, they were trained on the use of personal protective equipment. Moreover, personnel at most hospitals were administered training on how to properly outfit themselves in the protective gear.

“Ebola is spread by direct contact so personal hygiene is critical… we are focused on training health workers on the safer handling of body fluids such as blood, sweat, urine and sputum,” the CMO said.

Advisories

Additionally, precautionary advisories will be distributed to travellers who are going to or will be passing through countries in West Africa. This will be done through travel agents and at the airport.