Vietnam raises Ebola alert level to worst in history

More than 1,600 cases of infection, nearly 900 deaths due to Ebola. WHO said this is the worst epidemic in the past 40 years in West African countries. Vietnam, like many other countries, has raised the warning level for this dangerous disease.

The worst epidemic in history

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed Ebola as the largest epidemic in the past 40 years in African countries. The disease spreads quickly and has a high mortality rate. If efforts are not made to control and prevent it, the situation will become worse and many lives will be lost.

In fact, since the beginning of the year, 4 West African countries have recorded more than 1,600 cases of this virus, nearly 890 deaths, of which over 100 cases are medical staff infected with Ebola. Notably, in just two days (July 31 and August 1); 4 countries Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone reported 163 new cases, 61 deaths. Guinea had 13 new cases but 12 deaths, while Liberia had 77 and 28 deaths.

At the meeting of the steering committee for epidemic prevention on the afternoon of August 6, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), said that in the face of this dangerous epidemic, many countries have raised their warnings about the epidemic.

Liberia has closed most of its major border crossings and imposed strict quarantines on affected areas. Senegal has closed its land border with Guinea. Nigeria has suspended flights to affected countries and increased airport quarantines. Many multinational companies operating in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have restricted their staff from coming to the country. The US Peace Corps has also withdrawn 340 volunteers from three affected countries.

"The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been increasing dramatically in recent days. The World Health Organization (WHO) once assessed the risk of transmission through travel as extremely low, but now it has switched to warning that 'airborne transmission cannot be ruled out. Vietnam is also a country with a high risk of infection,'" Dr. Phu said.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has stressed that this is an unprecedented outbreak that is very difficult to control. The epidemic is occurring in areas with people moving across borders and is transmitted by air. This is the opposite of what happened in previous epidemics. If the situation continues to worsen, the risk of the epidemic spreading to other countries is very high.

Vietnam recommends citizens limit travel to epidemic areas

Faced with the risk of Ebola spreading into Vietnam, the Ministry of Health has sent a report to the Government and, at the same time, implemented health declarations at all international border gates for people entering Vietnam from epidemic areas; developed a plan to inspect the work of preparation, response, and disease prevention...

At the meeting of the Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien requested units to focus on monitoring at border gates and hospitals, and promptly detect any Ebola cases. Travelers are advised to limit their travel to countries with epidemics.

Late in the afternoon of August 6, after the Steering Committee meeting ended, the Ministry of Health also sent an urgent dispatch to relevant ministries and branches requesting coordination in directing the implementation of mandatory health declarations at border gates. Accordingly, passengers arriving from epidemic areas (four West African countries: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria) within 21 days will have to make mandatory health declarations upon entering Vietnam. When passengers are found to have suspected symptoms of Ebola, they must be promptly quarantined and medical treatment measures must be implemented according to regulations. This regulation will be applied from August 15 at all international border gates.

On the same day, the Ministry of Health also sent an urgent dispatch to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recommending that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notify agencies and organizations whose officials and citizens are in or must travel to the epidemic area. The Ministry of Health also suggested limiting the sending of officials to countries with Ebola epidemics when not necessary.

In case of forced travel, it is necessary to implement epidemic prevention measures as recommended by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health also requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to regularly share information about visitors from these countries so that the Ministry of Health can take proactive measures to prevent epidemics.

According to Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Ebola virus disease (Ebola hemorrhagic fever) is a dangerous acute infectious disease (group A), capable of spreading rapidly and with a mortality rate of up to 90%. The disease is transmitted from person to person through direct contact with blood, secretions, organs, and body tissues of infected people, infected animals, or contact with environments contaminated with secretions of infected people and animals.

People with viral diseases often have a sudden onset of symptoms such as high fever, abdominal and chest muscle pain, sore throat, vomiting or nausea, acute diarrhea, mucosal bleeding (purpura or maculopapular rash, nosebleeds) and visceral bleeding (vomiting, bloody stools, etc.). Severe cases often have liver damage, kidney failure, meningitis, possibly multiple organ failure, pleural effusion and shock.

The disease is dangerous because of its speed of spread, high risk of death and currently there is no vaccine or specific treatment.

To prevent the disease, people need to maintain personal hygiene, avoid direct contact with blood and secretions of infected people and animals; Do not handle objects that may have come into contact with blood and secretions of infected people and animals before; If you are in an epidemic area and have symptoms (fever, headache, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, rash, red eyes), go to a medical facility immediately for timely treatment.

On August 6, the Ministry of Health also issued Guidelines for monitoring and preventing Ebola virus disease.

Accordingly, although Ebola has not been recorded in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health also recognizes that this is a very dangerous epidemic and should not be taken lightly. Therefore, just detecting 1 confirmed case (with a positive test result for Ebola virus) is considered an outbreak.

People with a history of staying in/traveling to/coming from an epidemic area/country or having close contact with a sick person or an animal infected with the virus within 21 days and having the above symptoms are all identified as suspected cases, need to be isolated, quickly diagnosed and treated promptly and thoroughly, to prevent the spread.

The monitoring guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health detail three scenarios and methods for monitoring Ebola virus cases from border gates to the community, including monitoring scenarios when no cases have been recorded in Vietnam until an imported case appears and when the epidemic spreads in the community.

Measures to implement epidemic prevention for patients, close contacts and infection prevention at treatment facilities as well as environmental disinfection and treatment issues are also specifically regulated in this Guide.

According to Dan Tri