WHO has published a long news release: WHO supplies arrive in Guinea to support the Ebola outbreak response. Excerpt:
When more than 3.5 tons of protection material arrived in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, on 30 March, WHO immediately started distributing it to health facilities in different locations dealing with outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD).
The supplies include single-use personal protection equipment, and disinfection and secure burial material. Half of the infected persons in Conakry are health workers. Providing them with adequate training and necessary equipment is crucial for infection control.
The Ebola virus causes a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, and diarrhoea and vomiting. Ebola virus disease outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%. As there is no treatment or vaccine available, prevention is the most effective way to stop the transmission.
“These supplies are essential as we were not able to be in contact with sick persons who could have Ebola. With protection equipment we feel reassured and can do our job to help patients” says Dr Lansana Kourouma, head of emergency section of the Chinese-Guinean Friendship hospital where 5 patients are currently under observation.
The material was also sent to the Donka national teaching hospital in Conakry, where an isolation ward has been set up to provide care to infected persons. The ward is located in a separate building. The Institut Pasteur, Dakar, Senegal has dispatched technicians to the hospital so it can carry out on-site rapid testing.
