QUARANTINE doctors at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) terminals will finally have protective gears to protect themselves and other medical personnel from being infected by the deadly Ebola virus, in case passengers would accidentally bring the virus to Philippine shores.
The head of airport quarantine personnel, Dr. Alexander Oba, said since the outbreak of Ebola virus in South Africa, they sought to purchase the protective suits from abroad. The suit consists of rubberize coat, gloves and protective mask.
The rubber boots are locally made.
Oba said he is setting a clinical eye for a group of doctors assigned at the airports. Only doctors with a clinical eye can determine if an arriving passenger is sick or weak, even without the thermal scanners.
“This means having a critical thinking in observing if someone is sick,” Oba said.
Oba also said the complete suit costs about P2,000 each.
In highly developed countries, the suits are disposable but Oba said he is considering soaking the suit after use in sodium hypochlorite, a solution that can kill germs and other viruses.
“Maybe we can use the suit twice after disinfecting it before throwing it away for incineration,” Oba said. “As far as we know, the Ebola virus might not reach our country because the virus will travel at least three more countries before reaching the Philippines, so by that time, the virus is dead.”
Meanwhile, a new study underscores the potential danger of airplane passengers infected with Ebola leaving West Africa: If there were no exit screening in place, researchers estimate that three people with the disease might fly out of the region each month.
The hardest-hit West African nations have been checking passengers since summer, but the new work is a reminder of how much easier it could be for the virus to travel outside the outbreak region if those measures weren’t in place—and that screening can’t catch every case.
Since the Ebola outbreak was first identified in March, there have been only two known exported cases involving flights, one before and one after screening began in Liberia.
A Liberian-American flew to Nigeria in July and sparked a small outbreak there, which has since been contained. The second man, Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, passed a screening when he left for the US last month; he didn’t have a fever or symptoms until days after arriving in Dallas.
For the study, researchers used international flight data and Ebola case tallies to calculate that—without screening—three infected people a month could fly out of the region. They noted that screening isn’t foolproof: It can take up to three weeks for people exposed to Ebola to develop symptoms, so it is likely some cases will slip through.
The out-of-control epidemic has killed an estimated 4,500 people.
“As the outbreak grows, we will be seeing more international exportations of Ebola,” said Dr. Kamran Kahn of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, the study’s senior author.
(With AP)