http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-08/ebola-outbreak-is-public-health-risk-to-other-nations.html
The worst Ebola outbreak on record is a public health emergency that threatens nations outside the four in West Africa where the virus is spreading, theWorld Health Organizationsaid.
The Geneva-based United Nations health agency stopped short of recommending a general travel and trade ban, saying only that infected people shouldn’t cross borders except as part of an official medical evacuation. Affected countries should work with airlines to ensure proper care for crews based there and enable quick identification of passengers who may have had contact with infected people, the WHO said.
“The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus,” the WHO said today in a statement. “A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola.”
The outbreak has killed 932 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone since it was first reported in March, the WHO said this week. It’s the first time Ebola has appeared in West Africa. A lack of border controls has allowed infected people who didn’t seek medical attention because of fear, suspicion or stigma to travel freely between the three countries. Unsanitary funeral practices involving contact with corpses have also fanned the spread of the disease.
The Ebola virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. There is no approved cure. Standard treatment is to keep patients hydrated, replace lost blood and use antibiotics to fight off opportunistic infections. The hope is that the body’s immune system will eventually beat the disease.
More than 40 percent of people infected by the virus in this current outbreak have survived without drug treatment.
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