By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
THE risk of an Ebola outbreak in the Bahamas is still relatively low despite reports that the United States has confirmed its first case, an international health official said.
Dr Gerry Eijkemans, PAHO’s country representative for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, yesterday said she believed health services in the country are ready to respond and effectively manage a local case.
She cautioned the public not to panic, but instead to become more informed about the disease.
Health agencies have been working closely with the Airport Authority, and ports of entry like the Freeport Container Port, to ensure effective and vigilant monitoring, she added.
“You have to catch that first case as soon as possible, so that means that the persons coming into the Bahamas and actually leaving the countries with transmission have to know what to watch for,” she said. “Secondly, they need to know where to go if they would develop the disease, and thirdly, if they go to any clinic – because you cannot guarantee they’re going to Doctors Hospital or Princess Margaret Hospital, you don’t know which island they are going to be on.
“This is the challenge that an archipelagic nation has, that all health workers are aware not to panic, you have to first ask if somebody comes in with fever, a headache, have you come from an area where there was transmission and have you been in touch with an ill person,” the doctor advised.
Dr Eijkemans spoke to The Tribune following reports that the United States has confirmed its first case of Ebola.
She acknowledged that the discovery of the US case has increased the “strain and stress” on global health systems.
Dr Eijkemans explained that as long as the viral outbreak in West Africa was still not under control, there was a constant global risk.
“It’s the first case outside of West Africa,” Dr Eijkemans said, “so this is very big and what it shows mainly is that what is happening in West Africa is not anymore a local problem but has impact and implications for the entire world. It’s pure coincidence that the first case is in the US, it could have been anywhere.”
She said: “I think we’re ready (in the Bahamas), this is not something that is done in one single event, or with one talk, this has to continue and we have to go more in depth, but I think the (first responders are) ready.”
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been working closely with the Ministry of Health and auxiliary government agencies to prepare an action plan in the event of a local case or outbreak.
Dr Eijkemans explained that the recent scare over the death of a Ukranian patient from malaria provided the perfect test case for emergency services, who were praised for their handling of the threat.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the Ukrainian patient who died in Doctors Hospital last month suffered from malaria and not the Ebola virus – as was originally suspected.
The rumour was spread on social media networks.
The patient was a 34-year-old white male from the Ukraine working on a freighter which was on its way to New Orleans from The Congo, West Africa. The man was taken to Nassau and sent to the emergency room at Doctors Hospital under full infection control precautions, but died on September 16.
“PAHO and WHO congratulated the Bahamas on the way it handled the case,” Dr Eijkemans said.
Ebola is a severe, often fatal disease characterised by high fever, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhoea or haemorrhaging.
Its transmission requires direct, physical contact with the bodily fluids of people or animals that have been infected with or died from the disease.
Symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 6 months ago
The credibility of this doctor is strained for saying "It’s pure coincidence that the first case is in the US, it could have been anywhere.” Before departing for the U.S.A., the ebola patient now in Dallas physically assisted a pregnant woman suffering from ebola in her efforts to get treatment at an ebola treatment centre in Liberia. Realizing he might have infected himself, he quickly made arrangements to fly to the U.S.A. where he knew he could obtain much much better treatment if he had indeed contracted ebola. In exiting Liberia he even lied to officials when he completed various health forms before getting on his flight, saying he had not been been in contact with or in the vicinity of any ebola victims within the last 30 days. For Dr Eijkemans to state that it was "purely coincidence" this fella ended up in the U.S.A. with ebola is an absurdity. Because of its superior healthcare system for treating ebola patients, the U.S.A. is the one place where many West Africans who know they have been afflicted with the ebola virus will lie, cheat and steal to get to as a matter of their very survival. As for the Ukrainian freight ship worker who ended up getting treatment at Doctors Hospital in Nassau after exhibiting ebola like symptoms, what most Bahamians don't know is that the U.S. government refused to grant him entry to the U.S.A. for fear he had contracted ebola and essentially forced him to be treated here in the Bahamas without telling our unprepared, naive and ignorant healthcare officials that the risks were very high that he might well be an ebola patient. Many international freight ship workers are from West Africa, in particular Liberia. I would venture to say that the freight ship in question was probably in international waters at the time the emergency call went out for help and that it was directed into Bahamian waters for the pick up of the patient by the U.S. Coast Guard. Never under estimate the shrewdness of the U.S. government and the ignorance of our Bahamian government!
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