Myanmar monitors Ebola virus at international entrance, exit

YNAGON, Myanmar- The medical staffs are now monitoring the EBOLA virus (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) at the international entrance and exit not to penetrate in Myanmar, according to the Disease Control Department under the Ministry of Health.

" In Myanmar, the prevention tasks against the diseases of H5N1 that has been broke out since 2003, flu in 2009 as well as H7N9 and MARS. Currently, the medical staffs are monitoring the EBOLA virus starting from May of this year.

The World Health Organisation-WHO gave instructions on tourism industry as the SARS virus broke out around the world. Regarding the EBOLA virus, they[WHO] have already said that the prevention tasks against the EBOLA virus must be extended with added momentum concerning the tourism services. The Ministry of Health is now checking all international exit and entrance. Currently, there is no EBOLA virus in Myanmar," said Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein, Deputy Director General of the Disease Control Department.

It is learnt that the ministry of health is now doing the medical checkup at the airports and jetties to those who returned from the disease outbreak countries, the health-care workers who are treating patients with suspected or confirmed EBOLA virus and their family members.

Moreover, the ministry of health has already announced a statement that if those people will suffer from the EBOLA virus, they can receive the medical treatment at the respective health care centers.

The statement also reported that the medical staffs need to carry out the preventive measures against the virus.

"The EBOLA virus has not been found in Myanmar yet. The virus can infect animal to animal. Myanmar people didn't eat those animals. That's why; the rate of disease outbreak is very less. If the disease will occur, we have a plan to render the medical treatments to those infected patients after drawing the emergency plan," said Dr. Kyaw Naing Oo, Deputy Director of the Myanmar's Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department.

The EBOLA virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

Ebola virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90 per cent. It is one of the World's most virulent diseases.

That virus is found in animals like monkey, bat, ape, deer, and so on that live in west-middle Africa and the virus spreads to human by eating the infected-animal. Till now, there are over 1320 infected people and 700 dead due to that virus.

The virus started at Guinea, the country located in West Africa in beginning of 2014 and due to travelling of infected people from Guinea, the virus spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone. Currently, these three countries are approved to be blocked areas and it has been reported that these deaths of virus-infection is the worst in previous 40 years, WHO stated.

A US$100-million-worth project has been started to be accomplished by WHO to controlling EBOLA occurring in West Africa and WHO and authorities from those three countries have been meeting and carrying out about rate of virus and preventing and controlling of virus, WHO stated.

Volunteer doctors and volunteer staffs reaching in those countries have been infected by the virus and so, the US has been calling back about 300 volunteer US citizens. Now, the symptoms are started to be found in America, London, Europe countries and Asian countries like China and Philippines, international media said.

EBOLA virus can infect by touching the blood, fluid, phlegm, etc of the infected animal, eating that animal, touching the infected person and his or her blood, phlegm, and fluid comes out from their body.

If infected, the pain starts to show in 21 days and from that, spreads to other people and might cause death in some days.

The symptoms include high fever, loss of energy, muscle pain, headache, sore-throat, vomiting and diarrhoea and from that, if serious, bloods come out from eyes, mouth, nose and so on and from skin, and from inside and outside the body and finally, cause death, WHO stated.