China is on guard against the Ebola virus and well prepared to respond to any threat from it Authentic Forrest Lamp Jersey , health officials say as global concerns mount over the outbreak in West Africa.
Dong Xiaoping, deputy director of the emergency response division at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the nation is far from the areas affected and there are no direct flights to these countries.
"The possibility of Ebola entering China remains remote, although it does exist," Dong said. "But a mass outbreak in China can be ruled out, given the capacity for responding to it here."
The latest Ebola outbreak, the largest of its kind and the first in West Africa, has claimed more than 1,000 lives in four countries.
Last week, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic a "public health emergency of international concern".
Dong said, "If there are isolated cases, we will be capable of 'contact tracing' and further stopping the spread of the virus."
Healthcare professionals and hospitals also stand ready to treat patients and carry out infection control measures if the need arises, he said.
Ebola virus disease is one of the world's most virulent diseases. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people.
The latest outbreak, which started in February in Guinea in West Africa, has since spread to neighboring Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, whose health systems are too weak to handle the scourge.
The WHO warned that the possible consequences of any global spread of Ebola are serious in view of its virulence and has called for a coordinated international response to stop and reverse any such potentiality.
Response plan in place
China's top health authority, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, issued an Ebola hemorrhagic fever response plan on July 31.
Under the plan, local medical institutions must use an online system to report any confirmed or suspected Ebola cases directly to the commission within two hours. The requirement makes it one of the most stringent of its kind involving infectious diseases.
Other key information provided cover clinical symptoms, virus screening and even the disposal of the bodies of infected victims.
"The Ebola response plan has been distributed among all stakeholders, including the health, transportation and customs departments," said Song Shuli, the commission's spokeswoman.
Song said the response includes checks and preparations in bio-safety and security that involved mass events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The country already has in place action plans to deal with Ebola, even though there have been no outbreaks of it nor sample virus strains for research, she said.
He Xiong, deputy director of the Beijing CDC, agreed.
"A sound health emergency preparedness plan enabled by multidepartment collaboration is in place in China as a legacy of the country's response to major threats like SARS in 2003," He said.
Over the years, China has gradually formed and constantly fine-tuned its emergency response and infection control system to deal with threats like the SARS epidemic and H1N1 flu pandemic scare.
The system forms the bedrock of any response to outbreaks and includes early detection, isolation of cases, contact tracing and monitoring, and rigorous procedures for further infection control, He said.
For example, hospitals can alert public health departments of suspicious cases or report confirmed ones.
In return, the health departments help update overall outbreak development and devise or adjust response strategies.
"Such cooperation was not well-implemented before SARS," said Xu Qian, head of the infectious disease department of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, which treated SARS patients during the epidemic that killed 349 people on the Chinese mainland alone.
"Infection control awareness has largely been enhanced since SARS and high alert at the front lines of our department towards any infections including Ebola has become routine," she said.
Even before the commission issued its emergency response plan, her hospital had "taken actions like staff training and checking patients with fever for background information as if they had traveled to the affected areas".
Hospitals must also report cases of patients suffering unexplained fevers to the CDC, under a new mechanism that was set up following SARS to help detect potential outbreaks, she said.
"Hospitals have been gradually taking increasing public health responsibilities ever since," she said, adding that China is ready to respond to any outbreaks.
A consensus that everyone shares public health responsibility has gradually been reached nationwide, He said.
Government agencies including health, tourism, customs and transport will hold regular talks and set up cooperation mechanisms in case of any viral outbreak, he said.
Guarding against virus
Chinese quarantine authorities have strengthened inspections at its borders as part of measures to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading into the country.
On Aug 4, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a work notice that it will implement stricter inspections on inbound airlines from regions affected by Ebola, and step up sanitary measures on incoming vehicles and goods.
At Baiyun Airport in the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, which receives more than 1,000 passengers from Africa daily, routine taking of passengers' body temperatures has been practiced strictly.
"Those whose temperature is higher than 37.5 C might be put under medical observation to clear them of Ebola infection," said airport employee Chen Yanling.
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