Staying safe from Ebola

Frontline: Special channels have been set up at Shanghai airports to check travelers from West Africa.[Photo provided to Shanghai Star]

Health authorities have offered tips to travelers to Africa:

1. Before setting off, investigate the destination and be fully aware of the situation of the epidemic there.

2. Avoid contact with non-human primates, other wild animals and infected persons including their blood, body fluids and waste.

3. Wash hands frequently or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Do not touch or eat raw meat, or food that has not been fully cooked. Do not drink water that has not been boiled.

4. Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids. Do not touch the body of someone who has died from Ebola.

5. Seek medical care immediately if you develop fever, headache, muscle pain, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, or unexplained bruising or bleeding.

6. If you find you are experiencing such symptoms three weeks after returning, seek medical care immediately and report your travel history.

Health experts are fast-tracking tests for various vaccines, and hope to have millions of experimental doses by next year, according to CNN.

GlaxoSmithKline and the Public Health Agency of Canada are already conducting the first phase of clinical trials for two experimental vaccines. The World Health Organization said that if the vaccines are determined to be safe, tens of thousands of them may be used in West African trials beginning in January next year.