Mexico has now joined hands with The World Health Organisation (WHO) to combat the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, as per the foreign affairs ministry. The ministry declared in a statement that Mexico will make a financial contribution to help equip the doctors and healthcare workers.
‘Aware that diseases know no boundaries and must be tackled in a coordinated fashion at the international level,’ the ministry said, ‘The governments of Cuba and Mexico have decided to join forces to help fight the Ebola epidemic’.
‘Cuba has pledged ‘a sizable contingent of healthcare professionals’ and ‘Mexico, in turn, will participate with a financial contribution to the WHO (the World Health Organisation) to equip these brigades with specialised equipment,’ the ministry said.
‘The WHO will be in charge of ensuring the equipment needed meets the highest technical standards, given the characteristics of the Ebola virus’, the ministry added.
The Ebola outbreak has claimed 4,877 lives, more than half of them in Liberia. Sierra Leone and Guinea are also hard hit by the Ebola outbreak, according to the latest report released by the WHO Wednesday.
The survival rate of this disease
The low survival rate of the Ebola is because the virus has an incubation period of 2 – 21 days (after which the symptoms start to appear). Also the early symptoms such as fever, headache, stomach pain and drop in blood pressure are not specific, which most people tend to ignore. And till the late symptoms appear, the condition worsens leading to death (which usually occurs due to low blood pressure). The fact that Ebola virus has no cure makes the disease more detrimental.
The only way to improve the survival chances of an Ebola infected person is early diagnosis and immediate treatment. While individuals who are at an increased risk of infection like healthcare workers and family members (friends), should follow precautionary measures to prevent the Ebola infection.
Further, according to the study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, WHO announced that the total number of Ebola cases is only going to exceed to a whopping 10,000, by December, 2014.
The Health Site, with inputs from IANS
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