Burundi steps up guard against Ebola

A doctor of the national public health institute checks the temperature of a woman at the airport in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on August 13, 2014 as part of protective measures against the Ebola virus. PHOTO | SIA KAMBOU |  AFP

By Moses Havyariman

Burundi has stepped up measures to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from spreading into the country following the death of two people in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo from the disease. 

The virus has caused nearly 1,500 deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea forcing neighbouring countries like Ivory Coast to close their borders for fear of the virus spreading to their citizens.

 

Several African countries including Kenya and South Africa have cancelled flight connections with the West African countries.

Burundi Minister of Health Sabine Ntakarutimana said Bujumbura was installing mobile clinics at the airport as well as screening all passengers. She said checks along the DRC-Burundi border would also be tightened.

"We do receive now more tourists in the country so we have decided to put doctors on airports in order to check the passengers. We have already created quarantine wards in our two major hospitals for those who are suspected of the virus," she added.

Ntakarutimana said the government was getting equipment from the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as assistance on how to handle patients who may be put in isolation.

The ministry has also started sensitising citizens on how the virus is transmitted, personal preventive measures and reporting suspicious cases.

EAC Civil Aviation Safety has called for a regional approach to screening all persons at international airports, seaports and major land.

WHO said that 120 health workers so far have died of Ebola, after contracting the virus while attending to patients.

A US doctor was discharged from hospital this week after being treated with the experimental ZMapp drug, which is also being used to treat another victim in the UK. A Liberian doctor, however, died despite being treated with the drug.

Ebola is one of the world’s most virulent disease transmitted through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids of the infected person. Japan has said it was ready to ship an experimental anti-viral drug to help combat the Ebola outbreak in Africa if allowed by WHO.