Grgic: Health care system ready for occurrence of Ebola

BELGRADE - There is no Ebola in Serbia, and the health care system is ready to respond appropriately if the disease occurs, says Bojana Grgic, an epidemiologist with the Batut Public Health Institute in Belgrade.

Over the past two and a half months, 720 people have been placed under medical supervision, and 93 had come from the Ebola-hit region where the disease is spreading - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Grgic told Tanjug on Friday.

Medical supervision implies monitoring the health condition of persons returning from the endangered region, pursuant to documents issued by sanitation inspectors at the airport, she said.
"It does not imply limited freedom of movement, but an obligation to contact the relevant epidemiological service pursuant to the document to receive precise instructions on how to act," Grgic noted.

All people who are under medical supervision must measure their body temperature over 21 days, which is the incubation period for Ebola - in case Ebola symptoms appear they must see an epidemiologist "who will make an assessment on further action based on the clinical condition," she added.
"The reference infectious disease clinics in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis are ready for suspected or actual cases of Ebola," Grgic noted, adding that, in case of occurrences of the disease, such persons will be placed in isolation, with carers to be assigned to them.

Three patients suspected of being infected have been hospitalised at the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Belgrade, Grgic said, adding that a sample taken from one of the patients has been sent to a reference laboratory in Hamburg, but turned out to be negative.

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