Health Ministry takes measures against Ebola
By Victoria Moiseyeva
The dangerous virus Ebola has put in alarm peoples all around the world, forcing the governments to take immediate measures to prevent possible penetration of Ebola virus into their countries.
To this end, Azerbaijan's Chief Sanitary Doctor Abbas Valibayov has signed an order to strengthen preventive and anti-epidemic measures to prevent the possibility of penetration of the virus into Azerbaijan.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. As the virus spreads through the body, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes levels of blood-clotting cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding.
Ebola outbreak began this February in West Africa. Generally, its victims are mostly residents of Liberia, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The disease kills up to 90 percent of people who are infected. The death toll as a result of the infection in West Africa is 1069 people, and the number of people infected is 1975.
The heads of medical institutions in Azerbaijan were commissioned to create the conditions for immediate isolation of persons suspected of being infected with Ebola virus.
According to the order, it is essential to liaise with the border-crossing points to create conditions of medical surveillance of persons coming from countries where the virus is spread and to reinforce educational work among population.
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, in Nzara, Sudan and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
Serum from Ebola is being developed in the United States and a few people have had an experimental treatment.
No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use for people or animals.
World Health Organization has promised to produce the vaccine in 2015.