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Guinea-Bissau closes its border with Guinea over Ebola outbreak

Ebola fever broke out in Guinea in February and now it is spreading on other countries in West Africa

RABAT, August 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Guinea-Bissau has decided to close its border with neighbouring Guinea over an Ebola outbreak in that country, Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau Domingos Simoes Pereira said on Tuesday.

He said that the country’s interior and defence ministries had been ordered to ensure proper control at the border of the country.

Guinea-Bissau has a common border with Guinea of more than 300 kilometrs.

Meanwhile, Russian virologist, Academician Viktor Maleyev, who had been seconded to Guinea’s capital city Conakry to help local medics deal with the disease, told Itar-Tass on Monday that the Ebola virus disease (EVB) infection rate in Guinea had somewhat decreased. He said the biggest risk of EVB transmission existed in the border-lying regions between the three neighbouring African countries: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Ebola fever broke out in Guinea in February and now it is spreading on other countries in West Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the death toll from Ebola disease in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia has exceeded 1,000, with more than a third of deaths from Ebola reported from Guinea.

The World Health Organization describes Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) as “a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%.” Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. The incubation period is 2 to 21 days. There is no known cure or vaccine for the disease. The only treatment offered is “supportive intensive care.” During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are health workers, family members and others in close contact with sick people and deceased patients.