Following reports of two individuals being medically screened for the purpose of ruling out an Ebola virus infection, the Director of La Caja, Costa Rica’s public health service, has been issuing updates on her agency’s implementation of protocols recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent infections and outbreaks of this dangerous disease.

As recently reported by Lady Rojas of online news daily CRHoy, Director Maria Eugenia Villalta estimates that La Caja could spend more than $600K on special protective suits designed to handle hazardous materials (hazmat). For the current phase of the implementation, La Caja will acquire 3,000 Tyvek hazmat suits manufactured by United States chemical giant DuPont.

The Tyvek suits protect against blood-borne pathogens and other infectious agents. La Caja plans to acquire up to 9,000 of these suits, which will be positioned in medical centers in the areas of Costa Rica that are most likely to serve as transit points for travelers who come from Western Africa, a region that has been deeply affected by Ebola outbreaks. The initial batch of suits will be distributed to hospitals in Liberia, Puntarenas, Ciudad Neily, Limon, Heredia, and San Jose.

Although the transit of travelers who arrive from Africa is not significant in Costa Rica, there are two nations where Ebola cases have been confirmed that are of concern: The United States and Spain. These two countries have a steady flow of travelers to and from Costa Rica.

The mortality rate for Ebola is expected to rise to 70 percent in the coming weeks. This is a disease that has proven difficult to contain, but it is important to remember that the world has seen pandemics such as The Spanish Flu in the wake of World War I. That influenza pandemic killed more than 20 million people around the world in one year. Virologists in the U.S. estimate that the various influenza viral strains can claim anywhere from 3,000 to 40,000 lives annually; the high variance is caused by a diversity of factors.

Costa Rica may have an advantage with regard to implementing Ebola protocols. As a country affected with vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria, public health officials have been educating the population on preventive measures that are also part of the Ebola protocols. Such measures include handwashing with antibacterial soap and sending medical workers door-to-door in communities where outbreaks of infectious disease are suspected.

In the meantime, there is also a curious matter reported by daily tabloid Diario Extra, wherein journalist Marco Leandro reported that local tourism operators assert that 15 percent of all flight reservations to the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Guanacaste have been cancelled by North American travelers who panic when they see the airport code LIR and their destination of Liberia. This purported conflation of a municipality in Costa Rica with the African nation of Liberia, which is unfortunately dealing with Ebola cases, is allegedly generating losses for the local tourism industry.