Zambia on alert against Ebola English.news.cn 2014-04-22 19:30:54 LUSAKA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Aviation authorities in Zambia have started screening all passengers for the deadly contact-borne Ebola virus which has broken out in some African countries, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Tuesday. There have been reports of the outbreak of the deadly disease in Western Africa and in some countries in central Africa. National Airports Corporations Limited, a government institution that operates airports in the country, has called on the countrys three international airports to screen all passengers for the deadly disease. Robinson Misitala, the institutions managing director, said measures against Ebola have already been put in place to screen passengers passing through the three international airports. Working with the Ministry of Health, a team has been put in place and awareness has been conducted with all the medical staff at the airport, airlines, and security staff and immigration department so that they are ready for any eventuality, he was quoted as saying by the paper. Although at present Ebola is in West Africa and has not reached the southern part of Africa, we are very alert, he added. All the three airports have established isolation areas for all the communicable diseases such as Ebola, he said. First discovered in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the Ebola virus was named after the Ebola River where the DR Congo outbreak was found in a nearby village. There is still no cure for the deadly Ebola virus disease which has an incubation period between two and 21 days and carries a fatality rate of up to 90 percent. The WHO defines the Ebola virus disease, formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, as a severe, often fatal illness and one of the worlds most virulent diseases. Editor: Shen Qing
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:26:52 +0000
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