PEOPLE coming from Ebola-affected countries should be quarantined at the exit point, not at the entry point.
So said Academician Jaime C. Montoya, chairman of the health sciences division of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).
Montoya emphasized that quarantine should be done right in Ebola-affected countries, before the people board planes and ships to bring them out of the country. Montoya is a medical doctor who specializes in infectious diseases and a member of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region Clinical Advisory Committee for Emerging Infections.
“Those countries—like Liberia and Sierra Leone—they should be the ones doing the quarantine––for 21 days before they allow people to leave the country. That is the ideal,” Montoya said. Montoya, concurrent executive director of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, made his point during a NAST-organized roundtable on “Coping with Emerging Infectious Diseases” held recently at the Traders Hotel Manila. NAST is DOST’s advisory body composed of academicians in the local science community.
Dr. Mediadora C. Saniel, president of the University of the Philippines Medical Foundation Inc., also gave a similar statement during her talk on “Prevention and Control of Emerging Infections” at the same forum.
According to Saniel, a recent study suggests that exit screening of travelers is the most effective way to assess the health of travelers who are at risk. President Aquino has ordered overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, including the 145 Filipino peacekeepers in Liberia, to return to the Philippines in the face of the Ebola infestation in Africa, which has also resulted in a few cases in the US and Spain.
“The problem is, those countries have their own laws and regulations,” Montoya noted. “So we have no option but do the quarantine [the returning Filipinos] here.”
According to Saniel, a facility has been readied for the quarantine of these returning OFWs. However, she emphasized the need to refocus health initiatives from detection and response efforts to prevention.
Among the preventive measures against infectious diseases are regular handwashing with soap and water, avoidance of stress, which attacks the immune system, and a healthy diet composed of low-fat, low-salt and low-sugar foods.
Such diet helps strengthen the immune system, said Academician Veronica F. Chan of NAST’s biological sciences division and a pioneer in virology and immunology in the Philippines. Montoya also cautioned: “Do not touch your eyes, mouth and nose until you’ve washed your hands. The skin lining in those parts are very thin so the virus can easily penetrate.“
The current global Ebola outbreak has resulted in more than 5,000 reported deaths and six affected countries namely, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Spain and the US.
Intense transmission of the virus continues in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The virus enters the host via skin breaks or abrasion, and direct contact with infected patients, as well as cadavers.
A person may also be infected through exposure to objects contaminated with infected secretions like needles. There is currently a lack of vaccine for the Ebola virus which has an incubation period of two to 21 days. Montoya, likewise, noted the volume of OFWs who will come home this Christmas.
Thus, he advised Filipinos to stay home, rest, limit their contact and consult a doctor if they have fever and are not feeling well.
S&T Media Service