What you may have heard about Ebola not necessarily true

As the Ebola scare heightens in the country, medical specialists have sought to clear common myths about the deadly disease that could be giving people sleepless nights unnecessarily.

One of the biggest myths is that the Ebola virus can be spread rapidly through the air or casual contact, a misconception that has many shuddering on the thought of the disease striking Kenya.

Ahmed Kalebi, an honorary lecturer at the University of Nairobi, says Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, sweat, urine or semen from an infected person or infected tissues from a dead victim.

Dr Kalebi says infected bodily fluids can only enter a non-infected person through mucous membranes such as mouth, nostrils, ears, genitals, eyes and open wounds.

“It takes a lot more than casual contact for one to be infected. This explains why many of those infected are healthcare workers or family members caring for an infected person. Kenyans should be vigilant but not alarmed,” he said.

In addition, infected individuals who have not developed symptoms of Ebola cannot transmit the disease to others. It takes time before an infected person develops symptoms of the disease. This is called the incubation period.

“The incubation period, or the time interval from infection to onset of symptoms, is from two to 21 days. The patients become contagious once they begin to show symptoms. They are not contagious during the incubation period,” says the official fact sheet on Ebola released by the World Health Organisation.

Among the common symptoms of Ebola are the 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.

Elly Nyaim, the National Chairman of the Kenya Medical Association, sought to reassure Kenyans who live where there are bats or primates or in whose homes such creatures live. In some call-in radio sprogrammes, Kenyans have been asking about the danger posed by bats and primates in their homes and neigbourhoods. The killer Ebola virus often originates or reside in bats or primates.

But Dr Nyaim says the species of bats in Kenya may not be the ones that carry the disease as Ebola is only found in certain types of bats found in West Africa. Besides, he says, there has been no proven case of bats being infected with Ebola in Kenya. “If one lives in an area with an Ebola outbreak, they need to be very careful not to come into contact with primates or bats which are believed to be natural hosts of the virus. But in Kenya, there is no need for such alarm for now,” he said.

Kenyans are also terrified that people flying into the country from West Africa, where Ebola has hit hard, could be bringing the deadly disease. Although the concern is justified and screening should heightened, available information suggests that there is no need for mass hysteria.

According to the WHO official information sheet on the deadly disease, the risk of a traveller becoming infected with Ebola virus during a visit to the affected areas and developing disease after returning is extremely low, even if the visit included travel to the local areas from which primary cases have been reported. “Transmission requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected living or dead persons or animal, all of which are unlikely exposures for the average traveller,” it said.

But WHO has called on those who have been in direct contact with people who have symptoms of Ebola are advised to notify public health authorities for them to be checked and prevent the possibility of further spread of the disease.

In Kenya, if anyone is suspected to have Ebola, this should be notified to the Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre (NDOC), Ministry of Health, Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) or Kenyatta national Hospital (KNH) where an appropriate arrangement will be made for testing and isolation of the suspected case. Dr Kalebi says that Ebola virus disease infections can only be confirmed through laboratory testing. In Kenya, only Kemri has a category 4 laboratory equipped to handle the materials infected with Ebola.