The V.I. Department of Health announced Friday that it would be holding a series of “table-top exercises” to test the territory’s ability to respond to Ebola patients, and reminded residents of a travel warning in place.
Health Commissioner Darice Plaskett said in the statement that they would be determining the territory’s coordination, readiness capabilities and adherence to established protocols by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The table-top series is meant to test emergency responders, health care facilities and health practitioners; epidemiological surveillance; investigation and detection; clinical specimen sampling and handling; incident management; coordination of emergency operations; public information strategies and message dissemination; isolation and quarantine considerations; medical surge; fatality management; and the territory’s public health system as a whole when responding to a suspected Ebola case.
"While we are not aware of any local Ebola cases, now is the time to prepare and measure our level of readiness, as there are no guarantees that the territory will not be presented with a probable Ebola case," Plaskett said in the statement.
Health care institutions across the country have been subjected to various protocols and guidelines by the CDC to ensure that the level of preparedness meets national standards for early detection, safe clinical management, and infection control measures, the Health Department announced. These protocols are found as checklists that measure the preparedness according to the amount of actions and resources that can effectively support an Ebola case.
According to the CDC, immediate quarantine and the proper use of protective gear is critical in protecting and safeguarding against the spread of Ebola. By focusing on the way the virus is spread, the territory’s health system and stakeholders can be empowered to protect against exposure and spread of the virus, according to the DOH. The Health Department said they are focused on promoting the most effective measures and supporting all stakeholders that will be involved in the event of an Ebola outbreak.
"The Department of Health is the lead agency. As the territory’s emergency management agency, we will support them in safeguarding the territory," VITEMA Director Elton Lewis said in the DOH statement.
The Department of Health said they are working with VITEMA and other stakeholders to prepare and respond to different possible Ebola outbreak scenarios in the territory.
"It is important that we work in phases," Plaskett said in the statement. "We have made our preliminary clinical rounds and we will now engage our emergency responders, hospitals, clinics and stakeholders with specialized training in detection, treatment and protecting themselves when they are charged with care of an Ebola patient."
Ebola Symptoms and Treatment
Ebola virus disease is a rare but deadly virus that damages the immune system and organs. Early on, ebola can feel like the flu or other illnesses. Symptoms can take anywhere from two to 21 days to appear and usually include:
– High fever (temperature of 101.5°F/ 38.6°C)
– Headache
– Joint and muscle aches
– Sore throat
– Weakness and fatigue
– Stomach pain
– Lack of appetite
As the illness progresses, patients may experience vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
There is no cure for Ebola, but several experimental treatments including blood products made from Ebola survivors, immune therapies and other drugs are being evaluated. While there are no approved vaccines for the virus yet, two drugs are currently undergoing human safety testing, according to the CDC. Patients receive supportive care for symptoms and are treated with intravenous fluids to prevent severe dehydration.
Ebola Cases
There are currently eight confirmed cases of Ebola in the United States, two of which are nurses who contracted it in the United States after caring for Liberian citizen Thomas Duncan, CNN reported. The other five cases are people who had traveled to West Africa and are now being treated in the U.S. (See Related Links below)
In the hardest hit countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — there have been 8,973 confirmed cases and 4,484 deaths, according to the CDC. Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States are the only other countries to have cases of Ebola, according to the CDC. (See Related Links below)
Travel Warning
The U.S. has issued a travel warning but not a ban to or from impacted countries. Several Caribbean countries, however, have, the BBC reported. So far, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Lucia, Haiti and Columbia have banned travel by people from or who have visited impacted West African countries. (See Related Links below)
On Oct. 5, the V.I. Department of Health issued a public health alert on Ebola and the CDC’s travel warning for countries in West Africa that are currently affected by the ebola outbreak, such as of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
U.S. residents are strongly advised to avoid nonessential travel to these destinations, according to the CDC. The DOH said that if you must travel (for example, to do humanitarian aid work in response to the outbreak) protect yourself by following CDC’s advice for avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are ill with Ebola or who has died from Ebola. (See Related Links below) Humanitarian aid workers are urged to:
– Wash hands frequently or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
– Avoid contact with blood and body fluids of any person, particularly someone who is sick
– Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids
– Do not touch the body of someone who has died from ebola
– Do not touch or eat bats and nonhuman primates or their blood
– Avoid hospitals where ebola patients are being treated
For more information about Ebola, visit the Department of Health website at www.healthvi.org.
