Grbic: There is no reason for fear of Ebola in Serbia

BELGRADE - Serbian citizens have no reason to be afraid of an outbreak of Ebola because "control and prevention measures are being implemented to the greatest extent," Head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Office in Serbia Miljana Grbic said Monday.

"Serbia is following all the measures recommended by the WHO to control and contain the disease," Grbic told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), pointing out that "there are no known cases of Ebola infection and not a single person is kept in isolation" in Serbia.

Grbic added that there was no reason for fear of the epidemic spreading in other European countries, although the possibility of occurrence of sporadic cases could not be ruled out.

"Eight people have been or are being treated (for Ebola) in Europe so far, seven of whom are aid workers coming from endangered countries," she said, pointing out that three persons had recovered in the UK, Germany and France, three were being treated in Norway, Germany and Spain, while two had succumbed and died.

Stressing that "the WHO has not given a formal approval of any drug or medical product" to use against Ebola, Grbic said that that experiments were underway to test three product groups. The first group is blood derivatives containing antibodies and globulins, the second group is antiviral drugs, whose efficacy has been tested on animals rather than in humans, while the third group, vaccines, is now being tested in humans, she said.

Asked whether Europe was prepared to fight a possible epidemic, Grbic said European countries were among the most developed in the world and they had advanced mechanisms for epidemic diagnostics, isolation, monitoring and control.

Photo Tanjug, N. Milosevic ...

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