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SADC Health Ministers to discuss Ebola - Newsroom - 06-08-2014
Health Ministers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will today hold an extraordinary meeting to deliberate on the state of readiness and develop a common approach in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The meeting, to be held in Johannesburg, is hosted by the South African Government and led by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
Convened by the SADC Secretariat, the meeting will bring together Ministers of Health and key stakeholders to build a consensus on appropriate strategic action(s) to prevent the introduction or spread of the on-going Ebola virus transmission that has occurred in West Africa to the SADC.
The meeting will be attended and addressed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to WHO reports, a total of 163 new cases of Ebola Virus Disease were confirmed between 31 July and 1 August 2014. Sixty one deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
“Three of these cases are in Nigeria and include two new probable cases, one is a health-care worker and one is a Nigerian who travelled to Guinea and a suspected case in a nurse,†WHO reported on Monday.
Since its initial outbreak in the West African countries in March 2014, 1 603 suspected cases with 887 deaths have been reported as of 1 August 2014.
South Africa has no confirmed cases of the Ebola virus and the Department of Health has assured that all precautions are being taken to prevent its spread.
Ebola disease cannot be spread through casual contact but is rather transmitted from person to person through direct contact with blood or infected tissues from an infected person. Health workers and family members of infected persons in the outbreak area would therefore be at risk.
The Ebola virus causes Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%. The virus is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.
Ebola can then spread in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.
Signs and symptoms
EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.
This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes. – SAnews.gov.za