Ebola risk in Denmark 'very, very small': SSI
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Published: 1 Aug, 2014 CET.
Updated: Fri 1 Aug 2014 12:07 CET
As Ebola-infected patients enter Western countries for treatment, Danish health officials say the virus could never spread here as it has in Africa.
With over 700 people already killed by the worst recorded Ebola outbreak in history, Statens Serum Institut (SSI) says that the there is minimal risk that the spread of the virus will reach Denmark. If an Ebola-infected individual entered Denmark, SSI said the threat of contagion would be contained. “We view it as a very, very small probability,” SSI’s Anders Fomsgaard told Politiken. The Ebola virus has quickly spread through the African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, but SSI says countries like Denmark are much better equipped to stop the spread of disease. “The sickness would never spread in the same way in a country like Denmark. Here, a person would seek out a doctor, be diagnosed and quickly get isolated if necessary and the health workers would track down people who may have been infected,” Fomsgaard said. The Ebola outbreak has begun to make its way to the West. Two American aid workers infected in Liberia were recently returned to the US for treatment and a hospital in Hamburg, Germany has recently agreed to accept Ebola patients for treatment. Fomsgaard said that any Danes who returned from West Africa and went to a Danish clinic or hospital for treatment would immediately be suspected of possibly carrying the Ebola virus and would have blood samples sent to SSI for testing.
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With over 700 people already killed by the worst recorded Ebola outbreak in history, Statens Serum Institut (SSI) says that the there is minimal risk that the spread of the virus will reach Denmark.
If an Ebola-infected individual entered Denmark, SSI said the threat of contagion would be contained.
“We view it as a very, very small probability,” SSI’s Anders Fomsgaard told Politiken.
The Ebola virus has quickly spread through the African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, but SSI says countries like Denmark are much better equipped to stop the spread of disease.
“The sickness would never spread in the same way in a country like Denmark. Here, a person would seek out a doctor, be diagnosed and quickly get isolated if necessary and the health workers would track down people who may have been infected,” Fomsgaard said.
The Ebola outbreak has begun to make its way to the West. Two American aid workers infected in Liberia were recently returned to the US for treatment and a hospital in Hamburg, Germany has recently agreed to accept Ebola patients for treatment.
Fomsgaard said that any Danes who returned from West Africa and went to a Danish clinic or hospital for treatment would immediately be suspected of possibly carrying the Ebola virus and would have blood samples sent to SSI for testing.
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