As Ebola, a major concern in the international community and a virus that has to date seen over 10,000 in its most recent outbreak, continued to rage through Africa, the initial reaction from public health officials in China and Hong Kong was somewhat tepid. After all, largely to blame for the outbreak was a lack of healthcare and emergency response capability. However, following the cases in Dallas, Texas, the infection in Spain and the quarantine in New York, the reaction of health officials in Asia has taken a leap towards action and preparation. China, particularly the region of Guangdong, as well as semiautonomous Hong Kong and independent Taiwan and Vietnam, were struck with an outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, back in 2002-2004. Remnants of the lessons learned there and the systems implemented to stop the disease remain to this day key in approaching the possibility of Ebola in one of the region’s largest countries in the world. “What happened in the States took us by surprise,” admitted Louis Shih, the president of the Hong Kong Medical Association. “We were sort of feeling like, ‘Oh, don’t worry’ — the medical sector is now quite alarmed.” The Lancet, a medical journal, published an analysis on flights coming out of the three largest Ebola-struck countries in West Africa: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Six of the top nine countries on the list were in Africa, with the other three in Europe, namely, Britain, France and Belgium. Tenth, however, was China. Eleventh, Mali, which has recently had its first Ebola death, and twelfth was the United States, which has had cases in various parts of the country. No confirmed cases have been reported in Asia yet, and no other country in the top twenty were Asian, yet top health official in China and India, the two most populous countries of the region, have been discussing Ebola and Ebola-related policies, to prepare medical systems for the possible, perhaps even inevitable scenario of Ebola in Asia. Malik Peiris, who lead the fight against SARS in 2003, stated that based on flights, five cities would be key in stopping Ebola’s spread in Asia: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong in China, and Mumbai in India. - See more at: ift.tt/1t82eM6 DatSyn News - Asia concerned as Ebola goes into the West
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 07:04:05 +0000
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