Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson is to meet with representatives of the entertainment industry to speak to the issue of non-essential travel to Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.
Dr Ferguson was speaking on Friday, October 3 at the official reopening of the Williamsfield Health Centre in Westmoreland.
"I intend to meet with the Association of Musicians and the tourism minister because we will have to make some tough decisions. I have been appealing to persons, including entertainers, to avoid non-essential travel to the Ebola-affected countries in West Africa. If they still decide to go our actions may have to include quarantining persons," Dr Ferguson stated.
Over the past months, steps have been taken to heighten surveillance and staff has already been sensitised and trained specifically with respect to Ebola. Public hospitals across the island have identified isolation areas and a facility has been refurbished specifically to accommodate isolation for Ebola.
The Ebola virus is a severe, often fatal illness with a death rate of up to 90 per cent. It is transmitted through direct contact with blood, other bodily fluids or secretion such as stool, saliva, urine and semen of infected persons. Infection can also occur if broken skin comes in contact with environments that have become contaminated with an Ebola patient's infectious fluids such as soiled clothing, bed linen or used needles.
Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This may be followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver functions and, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
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