DESPITE the United States government’s measures to halt the spread of the Ebola virus on its own soil, these seem to be not aggressive or thorough enough, as media outlets reported on Friday (Manila time) that a doctor in New York City—which has a population of more than 8 million—had tested positive for the disease.
The facts on this new Ebola case are disturbing: the doctor, 33-year-old Craig Spencer, had treated Ebola-stricken patients in West Africa with humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders. Sixteen staff members of the group have already tested positive for the illness and nine have died.
Spencer returned to the US from West Africa on October 17. Seven days later, he was taken to a hospital after showing the symptoms: a 39.4-centigrade fever, abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue. Spencer showed no symptoms before or during his journey home, and had been monitoring his health closely, taking his temperature twice a day.
However, he did not follow quarantine procedures. The night before he was admitted, he had taken a taxi and went bowling with friends. The day before, he rode on the New York subway system.
Questions are being raised and comparisons are being made between today’s Ebola outbreak and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and 2003; that syndrome reached the Philippines, which reported 14 cases and two deaths. Actually, there’s no real comparison, as 88 percent of all SARS cases were confined to China and Hong Kong. Furthermore, the SARS mortality rate was 9.6 percent, versus Ebola’s 50 percent to 70 percent.
For the last two months, we have raised concerns that the government may have been moving too slowly and without any sense of urgency about the threat that Ebola poses. However, significant progress has been made since the Department of Health and its National Epidemiology Center held the first National Summit on Ebola Virus Disease two weeks ago.
The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), which was designated as the Philippines’s national reference center for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, has become better equipped. It has developed a triage system for suspected cases. Some P500 million is being allocated to upgrade the laboratory that RITM will use to contain Ebola, if ever the virus reaches the country.
While not 100-percent effective, a formal and specific airport screening and quarantine process is being implemented. Hospitals in Manila and other cities are being prepared with staff training and facilities to deal with the problem. Personal protective equipment for health-care workers is being secured. It would appear that the country is preparing properly, as it should for any looming disaster.
Will Ebola hit the Philippines? That is impossible to say. But as of now, we are much more confident that the government and private medical sector are doing nearly all they can to gear up to avoid an Ebola outbreak in our country.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano