Dear Readers,

D Phillips, 40, works at a bank in Constant Spring. He is just one of several individuals who have been expressing fear and concerns about the spread of the Ebola virus to this Western hemisphere. This news of the Ebola virus being diagnosed on the USA shores, comes too soon after the ravages of Chikungunya began invading many Jamaican homes. People fear that this more deadly disease will also fall upon a 'virgin' land, as did Chikungunya, and terrorise our population in a yet unheard of fashion.

This is most unlikely! This is because of several reasons:

Chikungunya is a vector-borne virus spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito which inhabits every part of this island and seems to be more prolific now than ever. The Ebola virus is spread by direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person, and is not contagious until the person has symptoms of the disease, so if you are with healthy people you can't catch Ebola! It is impossible for someone infected with Ebola to give it to their neighbour unless the neighbour has directly come into contact with the ill person or their body fluids.

When people die from Ebola, their bodies remain infected. The tradition in Africa of the family bathing and personally preparing the dead bodies for burial is one major method by which the Ebola virus was and can be spread as, during the bathing, several family members come into contact directly with the body. There is no such burial tradition here in Jamaica.

In many of the territories afflicted with Ebola, public health and sanitation are borderline or substandard. Here in Jamaica, we are taught to wash our hands after using the bathroom or being involved in messy work. Most of us bathe daily. We live in communities with proper sewage disposal. If not, this should be addressed in a timely fashion. For the most part, we use flush toilets and not pit latrines. We have a progressive public health system. One caution: men are to be discouraged from passing urine by the roadsides, a common Jamaican practise. Urine is a body fluid and will contain the virus.

Visitors in the African nations were often not properly screened to determine if they had visited Ebola-infected areas when they entered the countries by either land or sea. In Jamaica, proper screening is now occurring at all ports of entry into the island.

The majority of Jamaicans are, or will soon be, aware of the disease and how it is spread and how to avoid it; who to inform and where to go if ever such an infection is suspected. Education is a potent factor. In some places in Africa, suspicious and scared relatives would even, at times, use force to remove infected relatives from hospital, thereby infecting their entire family, then entire village! That would not occur in Jamaica.

The total number of Ebola cases recorded in the world is below 10,000 people and this is because of how difficult it is to really transmit the virus. Stay away from an infected person and you are safe! This differs from Chikungunya where infected mosquitos can fly into several different homes in a community and infect several different families in a day.

Ebola is not flu. It is not spread by casual contact and it can only spread after someone infected develops symptoms, such as a fever. Ebola spreads through DIRECT CONTACT with body fluids such as blood and semen. The chances are that if a person has been exposed, they'll know or at least suspect it! After nearly 40 years of experience with the Ebola virus, there has never been even one documented case of Ebola developing in a person because someone coughed on them!

To put this fear of the Ebola virus in perspective, one needs only recall the fears first experienced by our population when AIDS first visited our shores. Doctors and lay people alike were scared and concerned about interacting with HIV positive individuals. We have all learned a lot since those times. We know how to control the illness, if not cure it, and we are no longer afraid of coming face to face with it at the workplace or in our communities.

The incubation time for Ebola can vary from two to 21 days. This is the time between contracting the infection and manifesting the illness. Ebola, when it occurs, first presents with flu-like illness associated with fever, sore throat, hiccups, chest pain, loss of appetite, fatigue, muscle pains and headaches. Following on this, vomiting and diarrhoea and a rash can be seen. The Ebola virus affects the functions of the liver and kidney and can lead to bleeding internally and externally. Heavy bleeding is rare and tends to involve the gastro-intestinal tract. Bleeding symptoms tend to indicate a worse outcome for the infected person and death can occur from 'multiple organ dysfunction syndrome', usually within nine days of the onset of symptoms.

Prevention of Ebola also includes decreasing spread from infected animals to humans and properly disposing of infected animals. Animals can also become infected by their human caregivers. Proper cooking of meat and wearing proper clothing, including gloves would help prevent the spread of the disease, as would frequent hand washing.

There is no specific treatment just yet although several drugs are currently being tried with heartening good results. At present, treatment is mainly to support the body's functions with fluids, other medications to reduce symptoms, and blood transfusion where necessary.

It should be noted that the semen (sperm) of a man who has recovered from Ebola virus can remain infective for up to three months after recovery. PCR and ELISA detection tests for Ebola are available outside of Jamaica. There is no doubt that they will ultimately be available in Jamaica also.

The Ebola virus is very heat sensitive and can be eliminated with heat (clothing and linen can be boiled for just five minutes to eliminate the virus). Use of bleach on surfaces is also effective for eradication of the Ebola virus.

A three-week quarantine of individuals exposed to an Ebola victim is adequate to determine whether they will develop symptoms of the disease or not. Being symptom-free, this individual would be free to resume his/her normal life activities.

The disease has a high mortality rate of about 50 per cent but this is because the disease, up until now, has occurred in areas with poor health and educational facilities.

Write to: Lifeline,

PO Box 1731,

KGN 8

AJM