Public Health Ministry keeps close watch on Ebola danger

BANGKOK, 29 August 2014 (NNT)- The Public Health Ministry is putting more precautionary measures in place in Thailand against the risk of Ebola, even though no travelers arriving in Thailand have been found to be infected with the virus.

Countries affected by the outbreak are Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, he said, adding that Nigeria is not on the watch list because Nigerians infected by the virus had contracted it in Liberia.

The Permanent Secretary for public health, Narong Sahametapat, said as of now there have been no reports of Ebola infections spreading to Thailand. However, the ministry has begun implementing measures to monitor the situation closely.

One of the measures is that when arriving in Thailand, visitors from Ebola-affected countries are required to identify themselves to health officials and provide contact addresses in case they are subsequently found to have been infected by the virus.

A total of 798 travelers have so far been examined for signs of Ebola infection, to ensure the safety Thai people.


-- NNT 2014-08-29

they should put more afford in preventing road accidents useless shooting and such as in preventing Ebola.the death toll in TH road accidents is 30 times higher than all combined Ebola victims.

They should be more proactive , watching a potential disaster unfold , will achieve nothing, this is not a disease that can be contained by propaganda alone,

They should be more proactive , watching a potential disaster unfold , will achieve nothing, this is not a disease that can be contained by propaganda alone,

Isn't that what they are doing? Being proactive. They are checking potential victims coming into the country and last week set up 4 hospitals in Thailand to cope with a potential out break. They also have scientists and vets checking to see if it can shift to animals. Which at this stage had come up negative.

I would say they are being proactive. ....... For a change!

As I have posted elsewhere on TV - some organisations are really milking this out-break. The WHO delayed responding (it actually started last December) until they could declare an "International Emergency" and secure an allocation of US$ 100 million (of which 65% will be consumed by their own internal costs). The countries affected Liberia, Sierra Leone (both victims of brutal Civil wars) and Guinea (all 3 dirty poor) - need help to support their health services with simple stuff like safety goggles, masks and protective clothing. When there is an oil spill it is best dealt with by focusing on the source of the spill rather than wasting money checking where the oil may eventually spread to. As of today (Friday) there have been only 17 cases of infection in Nigeria and only 7 deaths (5 being health workers) all caused by a single American citizen of Liberian decent who contracted the disease treating his sister at her home in Liberia before flying into Lagos. Nigeria has a population of 175 million (22 million in Lagos) so this is a very tiny focus of infection. Yet some countries have already imposed travel restrictions on people traveling from Nigeria. A WHO statement named Nairobi as a possible hub of spread without a single case being reported in Kenya (there are thousands of km between West and East Africa).

Remember the SARS scare - the WHO pumped that up - Governments spent US$ 3.2 billion buying and pre-positioning Tamiflu - an anti-viral medicine that had a 6 month shelf like - in the end there was no epidemic - and all the medicine got flushed away (I still have a box of surgical masks bought when I was traveling at the time). This West African Ebola out-break has been used by the pharmaceutical industry to get permission to test "new" drugs, genetically modified "treatments" and vaccines on humans without first testing them on animals - good for their business.

I'm not saying this disease is of no consequence but there is a lot of over reaction for a disease which the scientist who discovered it recently said he wouldn't be too worried about sitting next to a sufferer on a train. Most the deaths in West Africa have been caused by a cultural practice in which relatives wash the body of their deceased relatives before burial. You have to come in direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person - something most of us would notice. This is not air-borne - doesn't spread around a plane in the air system like SARS was meant to - not a single person at the two airports or on the plane picked up the infection from the now very dead Dr Sawyer who brought the disease into Nigeria.