Ebola threat: Warning signals

The Ebola threat is right here! Not that it is in Cameroon; but because when the fever attack comes as close to us as in Lagos, Nigeria, there is every reason to be worried.

For a very long time the disease has been circumscribed to its traditional zone of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, leaving many Cameroonians to believe that it was not their portion at all.

But a Liberian civil servant, least suspecting of carrying the disease was sent to Nigeria a few weeks ago for an official mission.He is said to have taken seriously ill at the Lagos airport and later sent to a hospital which detected the Ebola fever and which eventually led to his death.

Many initiatives have already been taken by the Nigerian health authorities to keep any possible infections at bay. Even airlines plying the West African lines have cancelled flights to Conakry, Monrovia and Freetown.

Diseases do not know any international boundaries and Ebola which is even very easy to transmit should beat the various health authorities into a posture of alertness because of the ramifications it carries along, least of which is the highly-demanding effort required in handling it once it is discovered.

We are happy to note that the Ministry of Public Health has taken the full measure of the threat and is putting up a defence system to keep the threat under check. But the effort cannot be limited to government alone.

Private individuals should be made fully aware of the threat and be encouraged to take personal initiatives in keeping the spread under check.

It is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to ensure that even their loved ones coming from infected zones are put under medical investigation and even those suspected to come from such areas are reported to the health authorities.

It is only through a concerted effort that the preventive strategy being put up by government would work. It is also a civic responsibility to ensure that the disease is kept at bay.