No reason to panic over Ebola case
Doctor confirms Zululanders are not at risk of contracting the virus as the Mtunzini man is in the clear.
THE ongoing scare relating to the risk of contracting Ebola in Zululand ‘should not be further fuelled’.
This was the message on Wednesday from DA KZN spokesperson on Health and member of the provincial legislature, Dr Imran Keeka.
His comments come after a Mtunzini man, who displayed symptoms of fever, diarrhoea and vomiting last week, tested negative for the virus on Friday.
Keeka told the Zululand Observer that the man’s test had returned ‘conclusively negative’ and there was no need to create panic among local residents.
‘Zululanders are at no risk of contracting the virus. We are satisfied with the way the case has been handled following the MEC’s report to the portfolio committee. The man will be held in hospital until the incubation period is over and this should not be more than three days. This is only a precautionary measure,’ said Dr Keeka.
He reiterated that the disease was not spread through the air, but only through the exchange of bodily fluids from an infected person.
The Zululander, who had been working as a fleet manager for a construction company in Sierra Leone, was admitted to the Durban hospital last Thursday.
He was reportedly told to contact the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) should he display any symptoms of the virus during the 21-day incubation period.
Ready
NICD spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala confirmed on Wednesday that there were currently no suspected or confirmed Ebola cases in South Africa.
‘Our only involvement was to conduct the test on the patient. We are unaware of his current progress and condition at Addington Hospital. South Africa is ready to deal with the virus as 11 hospitals have been identified countrywide,’ Shabalala said.
On Tuesday, KZN MEC for Health, Sbongiseni Dhlomo, said the province had the capacity to deal with possible Ebola cases and urged the public to wait for factual information from the department before panicking about non-confirmed cases.
He said the challenge with the virus was that its symptoms were similar to other general diseases.
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