Panic, quarantines, lack of cooperation show diverse international response to Ebola experts fear most

Ebola cycle

While six states in the United States have Ebola quarantines, and the CDC has initiated new guidelines for quarantining individuals who have traveled to West Africa, including medical personnel, what has been the European response and the response of other nations to Ebola?  Do the facts of the disease warrant quarantining those who travel from West Africa and what have the various nations and experts said and done so far about it?

In the United States a nurse, Kaci Hickox,  has become the poster child for quarantining health care workers that return from treating patients in West Africa.  In her case, she had returned to the United States and had an elevated temperature that was tested, causing her to be quarantined for several days before being allowed to return to her home in Maine.  She has stressed the fact that she has been symptom free since that temperature elevation and with no health problems related to Ebola.  Yet she is being quarantined in Maine and now threatens a lawsuit against this action which she considers unwarranted by the facts..

Spain has been criticized for its quarantining a nurse who had been treating Ebola patients in West Africa.  The criticism was also lodged against Spain's quarantine of the nurse's dog.  The nurse had cared for a priest who had died from Ebola and later became infected herself, becoming what authorities maintained was the first case of Ebola being transmitted outside of West Africa.  This occurred before the arrival of Eric Duncan from West Africa, who became the first documented case of an Ebola patient in the United States. and who consequently died of the disease, after initially being turned away from the hospital in Texas where he had sought treatment.  

The Spanish nurse, Teresa Romero, 44, however recovered from Ebola.  Furthermore, her husband Javier Limon who had been in contact with his wife did not contract the disease, nor did the other 14 people with whom she had interacted.

Investors responded negatively to Spain's quarantine, as the Spain's stock market was rattled, causing many losses, as the authorities in Spain quarantined the nurse and others who had been in contact with her.  This was in spite of the fact that none of these people had symptoms and did not contract the disease.

700 people were placed under medical supervision in Serbia after 92 of them were found to have traveled to countries that have Ebola.  Chief health inspector Dr. Angel Kunchev underlined that there should be no need to panic because the disease is not transmitted by air but by contact with body fluids such as blood, vomit, diarrhea and sexual intercourse and that the risk of an ebola outbreak in Bulgaria is 0.001% and 0.003%.

How have the French responded to quarantines related to Ebola that are occurring in the United States, Spain and Serbia?  The FrenchHealth Ministry, in agreeing with the health experts that quarantining those who show no health problems is unnecessary, said this by way of an email today:  “Quarantines aren’t justified for people returning from an Ebola-hit country and who aren’t showing symptoms.”

Asia's response has been principally to increase its financial contributions towards combatting Ebola directly at its sources in West Africa.  Korea's response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was to panic initially with businesses and individuals refusing service to those returning from countries where the disease has occurred in large numbers.  That panic, however, has changed to the country and its citizens making good donations to helping Ebola victims in West Africa.   China has increased its financial contributions toward helping combat Ebola at its source in Africa and has not imposed quarantines or travel restrictions because of it.

While some nations and individuals have responded in panic to Ebola, theUnited Nations has warned that international cooperation and appropriate assistance to the nations most seriously impacted with the disease is paramount to preventing the disease from spreading.  The United Nations announced in mid October:  All countries and organizations must "accelerate and dramatically expand the provision of resources and financial and material assistance," including laboratories and field hospitals, as well as trained medical staff, the U.N. body said in a statement issued that day.

Ebola is "a threat to international peace and security," the United Nations council said, as it gave a scathing indictment of the global response, saying it has "failed to date to adequately address the magnitude of the outbreak and its effects."

In the meantime the majority of health experts, including those who have worked with infectious diseases and know the culture in West Africa,  maintain that quarantining is not the answer to stopping the disease outbreak but encouraging health workers and others who can help patients in West Africa.  These same experts worry that blanket quarantine orders may discourage that help.  They maintain the response from nations should reflect the evidence that has already occurred, that the disease is not airborne and that the panic response may in fact be the worst barrier to stopping the disease from spreading beyond a nation's borders.

In the meantime Australia has issued a ban today on travel from the Ebola-affected countries including Guinea, Sierra Leone and Libera . According to news reports in mid October eleven people have been tested for Ebola in Australia, and all have tested negative for the disease.