USA: Ghana's Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh says the country is "on the lookout" as it seeks to protect its borders from neighboring countries infected with the deadly Ebola virus

Record ID: 704138

  • Title: USA: Ghana's Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh says the country is "on the lookout" as it seeks to protect its borders from neighboring countries infected with the deadly Ebola virus
  • Date: 9th August 2014
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 8, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GHANA'S FOREIGN MINISTER HANNAH TETTEH SAYING: "Luckily, as of today we haven't had a single Ebola infection in Ghana. And, even though that is that case, we are apprehensive, and therefore we have built up our own national response mechanism by setting up three receiving centers. We have one
  • Embargoed: 24th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ghana
  • Country: Ghana
  • Topics: Health,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7W22OV5Q4DGA5FOCGCP49X1H7
  • Story Text: Ghana is seeking to find a way to protect its borders from the spread of the deadly Ebola virus into its country, Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh said on Friday. (August 8).
    "We are apprehensive," Tetteh said. "We have built up our own national response mechanism by setting up three receiving centers."
    The outbreak has infected at least 1,711 people, 932 of whom have died, according to an update by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.
    "We are thankful that as of yet, our neighbors haven't had reported cases, but we're still on the lookout to watch out for the crisis when it occurs," Tetteh said.
    This is the most severe outbreak in the almost 40 years since Ebola was identified in humans. Ebola has no proven cures and there is no vaccine to prevent the infection, so treatment focuses on alleviating symptoms such as fever, vomiting and diarrhea - all of which can contribute to severe dehydration.
    "We've had to deal with those crises as they occurred, and then put into place mechanisms to be able to track cases of infectious diseases when they are identified, and be able to isolate them quickly so that they don't spread," Tetteh said.
    The foreign minister says lack of education about the Ebola outbreak has contributed to the rising death toll.
    "When Ebola appeared on the African continent first, it wasn't Central Africa, it wasn't in West Africa, so its never been a disease we've had to deal with before. That's what I think contributed to the spread."
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