Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Ebola Outbreak 2014

The Ebola outbreak was confirmed in Guinea in March 2014 and quickly spread to Liberia. There have been more than 1000 cases of Ebola reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, of which there have been more than 700 deaths. This is the largest outbreak of the Ebola virus in recent times and there are no reports of British citizens being infected.

Ebola is a rare viral haemorrhagic fever. Ebola is highly transmissible by direct contact with organs or bodily fluids of living or dead infected persons or animals. It is regarded as serious because there is no specific treatment or vaccine available and is difficult to diagnose in the early stages.

The risk of Ebola within the UK is low for a number of reasons:

• The UK does not have a host species for the disease, such as wild monkeys

• The UK has specialist scientists and doctors with experience of dealing with dangerous diseases

• Infection prevention and control precautions are carried out to a high standard

• Britain has an early alert system to notify GPs and Primary Care

• National Guidelines for response to an outbreak are already in place.

The UK government is closely monitoring the outbreak. It is taking precautionary measures by releasing £2m funding to assist foreign aid agencies working on containment of the disease, and working with partners within the World Health Organisation to consider what additional measures should be put in place. Consideration is also being put in to the measures required if any UK nationals in West Africa become affected by the disease. The UK government do not currently think that the outbreak is an issue that affects the UK directly.

The Border Force has responsibility for protecting public health at the border of the country and they have received specific guidance relating to Ebola from Public Health England. They are working with partners including Public Health England to minimise the potential risk and officers have been given guidance on how to identify and deal with suspected Ebola cases safely. Travellers to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are being advised to follow health advice issued by the National Travel Health Network and Centre.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Local Health Resilience Partnership (LHRP) works to a Communicable Disease Plan. This plan outlines the arrangements of multi-agency health partners to respond to an outbreak of a communicable disease such as Ebola. The plan will trigger a multi-agency response from Public Health England, NHS England, Local Authority Public Health and the Clinical Commissioning Group and agree on the required local response arrangements.

Public Health England have informed medical practitioners (including GPs and Primary Care) about the situation in West Africa through the Central Alerting System. They are requesting medical practitioners remain vigilant for unexplained illness in those who have visited the affected area and have distributed an updated set of guidelines on actions to take in the event of a possible case.

The Wiltshire Council Public Health and Emergency Planning Resilience and Response Team will continue to work closely with partners to monitor the situation and take appropriate action as required.