Ethiopia Sets Up Border Posts For Ebola Surveillance

Ethiopia has set up several posts along its borders with neighboring countries in a bid to prevent the entry of the deadly Ebola virus into the country, a local health official said Sunday.



"There is no Ebola cases in Ethiopia, and efforts are being scaled up to prevent the potential import [of the virus] into the country," Ethiopian Nutrition and Health Research Institute Deputy Director General Dadi Jima told Anadolu Agency.



"That is why we are putting up the checking borders posts as a surveillance mechanism of the virus," he said.



The mechanism has already been put on place at entry points on the country's borders with Kenya, Sudan, Somalia and South Sudan, Jima noted.



Health workers have been deployed at these posts after receiving the required training to be able to identify and report any suspected Ebola cases, he added.



The World Health Organization (WHO) rated Kenya as highly vulnerable to to transmission of the deadly virus, which killed hundreds in West Africa.



Following the announcement, several East African countries have stepped up efforts to increase their surveillance, tracing and screening mechanisms of the virus.



In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has claimed 1,552 lives in West Africa, mostly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.



Six Ebola fatalities have also been confirmed in Nigeria.



The deadly tropical fever, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.



It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.



 By Seleshi Tesema                            



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