An outbreak of Ebola in a densely-populated country like India can create a difficult situation as it poses a serious threat, experts said at a conclave organised here to discuss various infections.
“India being a densely-populated country and biomedical waste management being very poor in most Indian hospitals, chances of person-to-person transmission could be high,” Prof BN Panda, Head of the Department of Medicine in the Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital, said.
In an article he coauthored with Dr SK Singh to mark the seminar on ‘Infections – the continuing challenge to mankind’ at the Sum Hospital on Saturday, Prof Panda said no vaccine against Ebola is available though efforts were on to find one. “Perhaps, we will find an answer,” he said, adding that the infection is highly contagious without the availability of any specific treatment.
Symptoms of Ebola were treated as they appeared but early basic interventions like providing intravenous fluids and balancing body salts, maintaining oxygen status and blood pressure and treating other infections increased the chances of survival of the patients, he said.
Tracing the history of the Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, Prof Panda said 550 cases had been reported in African nations Zaire and Sudan in 1976. “It is not an absolutely new disease as the first case was detected in Africa more than three decades back. We are not sure if it started from the fruit bats,” he said.Prof Panda said the first few cases were from the Ebola river valley area of Congo which gave the disease its name.
“Africa has given the world both the good and bad. Starting from diamonds, athletes and pyramids, it has given mankind the HIV. It is a continent that is least explored, mysterious and has a complex geography.”
“It is a continent where the human population is in a very close contact with the animal population. The diseases of animals can be easily transmitted to the susceptible human in a way that is difficult to manage,” Prof Panda said.