Ebola: Ghana on alert after Guinea records 7 cases
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has directed all regional, district and local health institutions to initiate preparedness and response plans for the Ebola Virus Disease.
The alert comes after Ghana's West-African neighbour Guinea confirmed seven cases of the deadly virus on February 14, 2021, which has led to the death of three persons in that country.
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"All Regional and District Public Health Emergency Management Committees should include EVD [Ebola Virus Disease] on their agenda. Additionally, regions, districts, health facilities, port health units at all border posts particularly along the Western border and all landing beaches are to heighten surveillance for EVD using the standard case definition (attached)," the GHS directive stated.
"They are also requested to remind all Ghanaians and residents in Ghana on the need to protect themselves from the disease," the GHS said in an alert addressed to all Regional Directors of Health and all CEOs of Teaching Hospitals," it added.
The preventive measure includes:
- Avoid contact with blood and body fluids of people who show any of the Ebola symptoms
- Practice hand hygiene: frequent handwashing with soap and under running water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser
- Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids
- Avoid contact with dead bodies, including participating in funeral or burial rituals of suspected or confirmed Ebola cases
- Avoid contact with animals or with raw or undercooked meat
- Do not handle bushmeat
- Seek medical care immediately if one develops a fever (body temperature 38°C or above) or other symptoms such as severe headache, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain, or unexplained bleeding or bruising
About Ebola
EVD is a severe, often fatal illness in humans caused by the Ebola virus.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
It can be transmitted through human contact with body fluids of a person infected with the virus. These body fluids include blood, saliva, vomit. urine, sweat and semen, Major symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, unexplained bleeding tendencies from nose, gums, vagina, skin or eyes, as well as vomiting and diarrhoea.
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