Ebola Outbreak: Red Cross Strengthens Health Screening In Guinea-Bissau Border

As the efforts taken to trace Ebola victims were a failure, Red Cross has sent a team of health experts to screen those crossing the West Africa border.

Guinea-Bissau said that after a rash of Ebola cases in neighboring Guinea, it had strengthened health screening at its borders. The announcement came after the Red Cross said it had sent epidemiologists to prepare for a possible outbreak in the West African country’s border area with Guinea.

"We have no cases of Ebola. Nevertheless we remain vigilant at our border with Guinea," said Nicolau d’Almeida, Director General of Prevention and health, Ministry of Health. "At border posts hand-washing and, in some cases, temperature control is still required in suspect cases."

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Youcef Ait Chellouche, Deputy Head of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ regional Ebola operation, described the risk of an outbreak in Guinea-Bissau as "real", adding that the charity was preparing should the worst happen.

At least one sick person is believed to have recently crossed the border several times from Guinea to Guinea-Bissau, the IFRC said in a statement, adding that efforts to trace them have been unsuccessful.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had sent a team to the border to trace someone who attended the funeral of an Ebola victim in the northwestern Guinean prefecture of Boke before returning to a fishing community in Guinea-Bissau.

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People cross the porous border between the two countries daily to tend fields or go to work. The West African Ebola outbreak, which arose in Guinea in December 2013, has killed more than 11,000 of some 27,000 people infected identified cases, according to official data.

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Source-Medindia

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Zaire ebolavirus is commonly known as Ebola. It was previously known as ebola haemorrhagic fever and is a deadly human illness.