With the first confirmed case of the deadly Ebola virus in the United States, Jamaica's Health Ministry is cranking up monitoring activities at the nation's ports of entry.
The World Health Organization puts the Ebola death toll at 3,000 in West Africa, and concerns have increased due to Jamaica's close ties with the US. Acting Permanent Secretary in the Health Ministry, Dr Kevin Harvey, acknowledges that the risk to Jamaica has increased.
He outlined some of the measures already in place locally to include a special facility with would result in the complete isolation of a person suspected with the deadly disease.
A man in Texas was diagnosed with Ebola. It was the first time the disease has been diagnosed in the US. Meanwhile, Dr Harvey has outlined plans to step up the monitoring of mortuaries and funeral homes, as well as health care workers:.
And US medical teams are scrambling to locate individuals who were in close contact with the patient and may have been infected with Ebola. The virus is spread through direct contact with body fluids, including blood, saliva, vomit and feces.
The man traveled from Liberia to visit family members in Texas. The unidentified patient, who is critically ill, is being cared for in a special isolation ward at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas since Sunday.
The patient initially sought treatment in the hospital's emergency department Friday but was sent home with antibiotics.
The man was in apparent good health when he stepped off a commercial airliner on September 20 but began to feel sick four days later. Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden, emphasised that the man did not become infectious until he began to develop active symptoms of the hemorrhagic fever.
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