Shortly after the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in the United States, national health authorities in Costa Rica reported that the country is now on alert for this potentially deadly virus.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

As reported by health sciences journalist Lady Rojas of online news daily CRHoy, Director of Health Surveillance Mary Ethel Trejos said that the world is now experiencing “the largest outbreak of Ebola in history,” and thus it is very important to be prepared.

The current points of entry to our country currently have contingency plans to detect infected patients who arriove by land, sea or air. Priority is being given to the preparation of designated hospitals of La Caja, Costa Rica’s public health system, which will coordinate with officials at the different points of entry. The hospitals are: Tony Facio in Limón, Enrique Baltodano, Monsignor Sanabria and San Rafael in Alajuela, the main hospital in Heredia, the hospital in Ciudad Neilly, the National Children’s Hospital, and the metropolitan San Juan de Dios, Calderón Guardia and Mexico hospitals.

Speaking to CRHoy, Director Trejos stated that:

“We must be prepared to detect, investigate and respond to possible cases. Our population must have information on this disease,”

Director Trejos added that cases developing in the United States may spread to Costa Rica since these two nations share a large number of travelers. To this end, this killer virus must not be allowed to become native. Director Trejos indicated that airport officials are working with airlines to implement detection, isolation and quarantine procedures.

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on the grim outlook that Western Africa is facing with regard to Ebola outbreaks and the difficulty in containing them:

A German scientist from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg believes that reaction to the latest Ebola epidemic in Liberia and Sierra Leone has come too late, and that these two nations could now face a severe public health emergency that may spread elsewhere in the western region of the Dark Continent.

 

Ebola is a highly nosocomial infection, which means it often originates in hospitals and clinics. This is a disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, although ongoing research seems to suggest that there is a chance of respiratory transmission. It is believed that certain African sepulchral customs that call for directly handling and washing the dead could be enabling this particular contagion.