Doctor:Thailand shows low risk from Ebola virus

BANGKOK, August 1 (TNA) - A senior doctor says that Thailand shows a low risk from the current spreading of Ebola virus in Western Africa and people should not, thus, panic by unproven reports on the social media. The senior physician, Dr. Yong Phuworawan, of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medical Science, insisted on Friday that it is still quite difficult for any outbreak of Ebola virus in Thailand although the disease has spread out 20 times over the past four decades, as it has been mostly contained in Africa. Dr. Yong explained that a widespread of Ebola virus is difficult than an influenza, as people normally fall victims to the deadly disease only after a close contact with a patient or a direct contact with a patient’s blood, urine or other fluid. Besides, Ebola virus spreads if a patient has very high fever, the condition of which makes the victim difficult to wander or travel overseas, while tests on Lyle’s flying fox, the carrier of the disease, in Thailand have also found no Ebola disease; so, people should not, thus, panic by unproven information on social media. However, as the number of Ebola virus victims tends to increase in Africa, officials at the quarantine section of Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport have particularly monitored travellers from Ebola-stricken countries, namely Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, since June 8, with searches conducted on 285 travellers from those three countries but no victim of the disease found so far. The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also moved to issue a travel advice for people to avoid travelling to the Ebola-hit countries for the time being and to follow up the updated situation in the countries closely on reliable websites, including those of the Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO), [www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en], and the Thai Ministry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control, [http://beid.ddc.moph.go.th/th_2011/index.php]. For those who need to visit Ebola-hit countries for the time being, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised them to register their travel logs, including inbound and outbound flights and accommodation details, as well as contact numbers, at the Thai Embassy in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, as a precaution so that timely assistance can be provided to them in case of any emergency. According to WHO latest statistics, a total of 672 patients have died from the disease worldwide, 319 of whom are in Guinea, 224 in Sierra Leone and 129 in Liberia. (TNA)