Avian Flu Diary: Liberia: MOH Press Conference On Ebola Outbreak

@WHO & Partners Ebola Response In Guinea

# 8417

While the planned webcast of the Liberian Ministry of Health’s press conference ran into technical difficulties, the United Nations Mission in Liberia twitter account (@UNMILNews) live-tweeted the key points, which I’ve captured and reproduced below:

My thanks go to the UNMIL social media team for their terrific work in getting the details out on this press conference via twitter.

LIVE: "We are working around the clock to reach out to the public." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: Out of 7 samples tested, 2 are positive for Ebola virus. - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: Woman w/ #Ebola took taxi from Foya to Firestone Clinic for treatment. - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "This is a preventable disease." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "We need to follow those who have had contact w/ Ebola patients for 21 days." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Traditional practices that could spread this disease need to be avoided." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Avoid eating bats and other bush meat during this period." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Ebola is transmitted from person to person through direct physical contact." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "National taskforce established & working tirelessly for effective response." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Any sudden death or person w/ fever needs to be reported immediately." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Lofa is the epicenter of the epidemic. One case is an epidemic." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Don't travel if you have symptoms. Report to nearest medical facility." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Media: please help us. Help the people to avoid fear, panic and denial." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "We're tracing down, isolating & investigating all who had contact w/ cases." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Incubation period is from 3-21 days." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Not all cases will show all the symptoms." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "@WHO has teams supporting the Government in all affected areas." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Don't get contaminated by doing own investigations. Tell a medical officer." -#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Media: don't take pictures of suspected patients. Respect confidentiality." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Media: don't expose yourself & widen the net of people we have to monitor." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Out of every 10 people who get the disease, up to 9 of them will die." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

Q&A session is underway. Followers can post questions for the Minister of Health, Chief Medical Officer, WHO, or the Min of Info on #Ebola

LIVE: "Tests require certain technology so for now we are relying on #Guinea." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "The fact that we cannot test for Ebola doesn't mean we don't have labs." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Response will cost approx. $1.2 million over 3 month period." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Don't buy bush meat until outbreak is over -> 42 days after last case." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "The country remains open and business goes on." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Let people remain where they are, be informed, be supported & be treated." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Chief Medical Officer available on-call 24/7 for media." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "Government is taking every step to trace every movement of cases." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

LIVE: "We need to get timely & truthful information out to people not sensation." - #Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola.

#Liberia Ministry of Health Press Conference on #Ebola coming to a close. We'll be posting the mp3 for download momentarily.

(NOTE: I’ll post a link to the MP3 file when it becomes available)

Meanwhile, as this press conference proceeded, the issue of the safety of consuming bushmeat was addressed by WHO Spokesperson Gregory Hartl in a series of tweets to UNMIL and @MicatLiberia (Liberia’s Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism).

An important reminder that bushmeat can be an important vector for a variety zoonotic diseases, and that just because an outbreak may have been contained in a region, that doesn’t mean the pathogen isn’t still lurking in a local animal reservoir.

For more on these risks, which is often exacerbated by the exporting or smuggling of bushmeat (or live animals), you may wish to revisit: