THESE are not the best of times for anyone living in the West
African sub-region because of the outbreak and continuous spread of
Ebola virus in the region. At least four countries: Guinea, Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Mali are battling with Ebola virus epidemics.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has been fortunate
not to record any single case of the deadly virus so far. But there is
panic that the virus may spread to Nigeria. The Federal Ministry of
Health had earlier warned Nigerians traveling to the affected countries
to be mindful of Ebola virus just as it warned against indiscriminate
consumption of ‘bush meat’, especially fruit bats. Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone have reportedly banned the sale and consumption of bush
meat.
People are expected to avoid close contacts with alive or dead wild animals and wash their hands regularly; wash and peel fruits before consuming them because fruits eaten halfway by bush animals have been shown to spread the virus.
In addition to these general guides, it is expected that all hands be on deck. Experts believe that airline crews have a role to play in the prevention and management of Ebola virus. America’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC) therefore advises crew members on a flight with a passenger who is ill with fever, jaundice, or bleeding and who is traveling from an area in which Ebola cases have been reported, to take precautions by keeping the sick person separated from close contact with others as much as possible.
Crew members are also expected to provide the sick passenger with a surgical mask to reduce the number of droplets expelled into the air by talking, sneezing, or coughing or give tissues to those who cannot tolerate a mask. CDC also adds that personnel should wear disposable gloves for direct contact with blood or other body fluids, in addition to knowing the symptoms of Ebola virus.
Symptoms of the virus typically include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness of the body, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain and lack of appetite. But some patients may experience rash, red eyes, hiccups, cough, sore throat, chest pain, difficulty in breathing, difficulty in swallowing, bleeding inside and outside of the body. Symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure to Ebola virus, though eight to 10 days is most common.
The captain of an airliner bound for Nigeria is expected to report to the Federal Ministry of Health, any state Ministry of Health in Nigeria or the nearest office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) if he suspects that a passenger has the virus.
If exposure occurs abroad, personnel who think they have been exposed to the virus and who develop symptoms during travel should visit a doctor and alert the healthcare provider in advance about the possible exposure to Ebola virus so that arrangements can be made to prevent transmission to others.
Cargo staff of airline also need to be cautious. Although packages should not ordinarily pose a risk to package cargo employees because Ebola virus is spread through direct contact with blood or body fluids – urine, saliva, semen – from an infected individual, packages visibly soiled with blood or body fluids should not be handled. And cargo handlers are expected to wash their hands often for prevention of all infectious diseases.
Once passengers have left an aircraft, the main source of infection will have been removed. However, infectious blood, or body fluids that may remain on surfaces of the aircraft interior may pose a risk of infection if those particles come into direct contact with a person’s eyes, nose, or mouth. Therefore, frequent hand washing is of primary importance for all personnel working on commercial passenger aircraft.
The airline’s ground and cleaning crews should be notified at the same time so that preparations can be made for cleaning the aircraft after passengers have disembarked. When cleaning commercial passenger aircraft after a flight with a possible Ebola hemorrhagic fever patient, personnel should take precautions and wear non-sterile disposable gloves while cleaning the passenger cabin and lavatories.
Healthcare workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola cases. The transmission risk of the virus in the healthcare and laboratory setting is well documented. During the 1995 Ebola haemorrhagic fever outbreak in Kikwit, former Zaire, and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one fourth of the cases were in healthcare workers with a history of recent patient care. After barrier-nursing practices such as wearing protective clothing were implemented, the risk of transmission was reduced.
Healthcare workers can be infected through close contact with infected patients or contaminated hospital materials and medical wastes. The risk for infection can be significantly reduced through the appropriate use of infection control precautions and adequate and strict barrier-nursing procedures. Therefore, health worker should observe standard precautions when dealing with all patients in the health care setting, regardless of their infection status.
Standard precautions are designed to prevent unprotected contact between the health care worker and blood and all body fluids whether or not they contain blood and mucous membranes. When a specific diagnosis is made, additional precautions are expected to be observed, based on how the disease is transmitted.
Hand washing is known to be the most important precaution for the prevention of all infections. Hand washing before and after contact with a patient who has fever should be a routine practice in the health facility —even when Ebola virus is not present. Washing hands with soap and water eliminates microorganisms from the skin and hands. This provides some protection against transmission of Ebola virus and other diseases.
In services where health care workers see patients with fever, cake soap cut into small pieces, soap dishes and running water should be provided for workers because microorganisms grow and multiply in humidity and standing water. Another option is to have a bucket for collecting rinse water and a scoop for dipping, if running water is not available. Above all, healthcare workers should observe the steps of hand-washing: Place a piece of soap in the palm of one hand, wash the opposite hand and arm extending from the elbow to the wrist or the fingertips, rub the surfaces vigorously for at least 10 seconds, and move soap to the opposite hand and repeat. And use clean water to rinse both hands and then the forearms.
If running water is not available, pour clean water from a bucket over the soapy hands and forearms. The rinsed water should drain into another bucket. Health workers are expected to use disposable hand towels because sharing towels can result in contamination. If towels are not available, healthcare workers and health facility staff can air-dry their hands.
Another possible area health workers could be infected with Ebola virus is through the use of sharp instruments like injection needles, syringes among others. Disease could be transmitted through accidental needle stick injuries. Therefore, health workers should always handle and dispose sharp instruments safely. They are not expected to recap needles after use but should limit invasive procedures to reduce the number of injectable medications. This will limit the opportunities for accidental needle stick injuries. But when an injection is necessary, health workers should always use a sterile needle and sterile syringe for each injection. And disposable needles and syringes should be used only once and be discarded in a puncture-resistant container, and then burn the container in an incinerator or pit for burning.
People are expected to avoid close contacts with alive or dead wild animals and wash their hands regularly; wash and peel fruits before consuming them because fruits eaten halfway by bush animals have been shown to spread the virus.
In addition to these general guides, it is expected that all hands be on deck. Experts believe that airline crews have a role to play in the prevention and management of Ebola virus. America’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC) therefore advises crew members on a flight with a passenger who is ill with fever, jaundice, or bleeding and who is traveling from an area in which Ebola cases have been reported, to take precautions by keeping the sick person separated from close contact with others as much as possible.
Crew members are also expected to provide the sick passenger with a surgical mask to reduce the number of droplets expelled into the air by talking, sneezing, or coughing or give tissues to those who cannot tolerate a mask. CDC also adds that personnel should wear disposable gloves for direct contact with blood or other body fluids, in addition to knowing the symptoms of Ebola virus.
Symptoms of the virus typically include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness of the body, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain and lack of appetite. But some patients may experience rash, red eyes, hiccups, cough, sore throat, chest pain, difficulty in breathing, difficulty in swallowing, bleeding inside and outside of the body. Symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure to Ebola virus, though eight to 10 days is most common.
The captain of an airliner bound for Nigeria is expected to report to the Federal Ministry of Health, any state Ministry of Health in Nigeria or the nearest office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) if he suspects that a passenger has the virus.
If exposure occurs abroad, personnel who think they have been exposed to the virus and who develop symptoms during travel should visit a doctor and alert the healthcare provider in advance about the possible exposure to Ebola virus so that arrangements can be made to prevent transmission to others.
Cargo staff of airline also need to be cautious. Although packages should not ordinarily pose a risk to package cargo employees because Ebola virus is spread through direct contact with blood or body fluids – urine, saliva, semen – from an infected individual, packages visibly soiled with blood or body fluids should not be handled. And cargo handlers are expected to wash their hands often for prevention of all infectious diseases.
Once passengers have left an aircraft, the main source of infection will have been removed. However, infectious blood, or body fluids that may remain on surfaces of the aircraft interior may pose a risk of infection if those particles come into direct contact with a person’s eyes, nose, or mouth. Therefore, frequent hand washing is of primary importance for all personnel working on commercial passenger aircraft.
The airline’s ground and cleaning crews should be notified at the same time so that preparations can be made for cleaning the aircraft after passengers have disembarked. When cleaning commercial passenger aircraft after a flight with a possible Ebola hemorrhagic fever patient, personnel should take precautions and wear non-sterile disposable gloves while cleaning the passenger cabin and lavatories.
Healthcare workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola cases. The transmission risk of the virus in the healthcare and laboratory setting is well documented. During the 1995 Ebola haemorrhagic fever outbreak in Kikwit, former Zaire, and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one fourth of the cases were in healthcare workers with a history of recent patient care. After barrier-nursing practices such as wearing protective clothing were implemented, the risk of transmission was reduced.
Healthcare workers can be infected through close contact with infected patients or contaminated hospital materials and medical wastes. The risk for infection can be significantly reduced through the appropriate use of infection control precautions and adequate and strict barrier-nursing procedures. Therefore, health worker should observe standard precautions when dealing with all patients in the health care setting, regardless of their infection status.
Standard precautions are designed to prevent unprotected contact between the health care worker and blood and all body fluids whether or not they contain blood and mucous membranes. When a specific diagnosis is made, additional precautions are expected to be observed, based on how the disease is transmitted.
Hand washing is known to be the most important precaution for the prevention of all infections. Hand washing before and after contact with a patient who has fever should be a routine practice in the health facility —even when Ebola virus is not present. Washing hands with soap and water eliminates microorganisms from the skin and hands. This provides some protection against transmission of Ebola virus and other diseases.
In services where health care workers see patients with fever, cake soap cut into small pieces, soap dishes and running water should be provided for workers because microorganisms grow and multiply in humidity and standing water. Another option is to have a bucket for collecting rinse water and a scoop for dipping, if running water is not available. Above all, healthcare workers should observe the steps of hand-washing: Place a piece of soap in the palm of one hand, wash the opposite hand and arm extending from the elbow to the wrist or the fingertips, rub the surfaces vigorously for at least 10 seconds, and move soap to the opposite hand and repeat. And use clean water to rinse both hands and then the forearms.
If running water is not available, pour clean water from a bucket over the soapy hands and forearms. The rinsed water should drain into another bucket. Health workers are expected to use disposable hand towels because sharing towels can result in contamination. If towels are not available, healthcare workers and health facility staff can air-dry their hands.
Another possible area health workers could be infected with Ebola virus is through the use of sharp instruments like injection needles, syringes among others. Disease could be transmitted through accidental needle stick injuries. Therefore, health workers should always handle and dispose sharp instruments safely. They are not expected to recap needles after use but should limit invasive procedures to reduce the number of injectable medications. This will limit the opportunities for accidental needle stick injuries. But when an injection is necessary, health workers should always use a sterile needle and sterile syringe for each injection. And disposable needles and syringes should be used only once and be discarded in a puncture-resistant container, and then burn the container in an incinerator or pit for burning.