PORT-OF-SPAIN – THE Ebola threat level remains low in Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean territories.
This despite the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declaring an Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
A release from the Ministry of Health stated, “However, the threat level outside of the affected region remains very low, including TT and the other Caribbean territories. Ministry of Health officials, though, remain vigilant, especially at all our ports of entry, as no case of this disease has ever been recorded in TT.”
The Health Ministry noted that since 1976 there have been several outbreaks of Ebola in African countries.
It said Ebola can spread by direct contact with bodily fluids from:
- A person who is sick or who has died of Ebola,
- Objects like needles that have been in contact with the bodily fluids of a person sick with Ebola,
- Direct contact means infected bodily fluids must get into your mouth, nose, eyes, breaks in your skin or through sexual contact.
Common symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and unexplained bleeding.
Symptoms appear between two to 21 days after exposure. People with Ebola cannot spread the virus until symptoms appear, the release stated.
Persons can protect themselves from this disease by avoiding non-essential travel to countries where Ebola is widespread. Even so, persons are only exposed to the disease if they have direct contact with bodily fluids of an Ebola patient, according to the Health Ministry.
