In Cyprus, there are protocols that were put into effect in the past and will be followed in the event of a suspected case, epidemiologist Petros Karagiannis told CNA regarding the outbreak of the ebola virus in Central Africa.
Asked what the response would be if there were an imported case in Cyprus, he said that there are protocols that were put into effect in the past and will be followed.
He also said that the Ministry of Health may have updated these protocols, and stressed that what is important is the complete isolation of the suspected case and the implementation of biosecurity measures, to protect both doctors and nurses and the general population so that there is no further spread.
Transmission, Karagiannis said, occurs only through very close contact with fluids from the patient, such as saliva, tears, urine, feces and also blood. He noted that in the final stages of the disease, microhemorrhages occur, which is why these viruses are considered responsible for hemorrhagic episodes, meaning they cause hemorrhagic fevers.
For the rest of the world, he said, except for Central Africa, where outbreaks occur from time to time, any case will be an imported one.
“This is where we need to be cautious, at least people coming from these countries should be given a thorough ‘interrogation’ to see where they traveled, what places they visited to clarify whether they have been exposed or not,” he stressed.
He estimated that this time the outbreak seems to be a little more serious than in previous times. The specific strain responsible for the current outbreak is a strain that has had one or two outbreaks in the past and is associated with a more aggressive disease, he added. Karagiannis noted that there is no vaccine for this at the moment.
Therefore, he said, the management of an incident depends on the symptoms presented by the patient.
At the present stage, he added, what is of particular importance is prevention, informing the general population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, where there are cases, so that citizens know what to avoid.