Turkey tracking passengers from Ebola-hit countries
'We regularly share information about the epidemic' senior health official tells Anadolu Agency.
ISTANBUL
Turkey keeps track of every passenger traveling from Ebola-hit countries for around three weeks, an official from the country's health ministry said on Thursday.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, the head of the Turkish Health Ministry's Directorate General of Health for Borders and Coasts, Husem Hatipoglu, said that family doctors are in charge of travelers' health checks.
"We increased the number of our health centers from 32 to 43 at borders which provide health services to Turkish travelers," Hatipoglu said.
"We regularly share information about the epidemic though our website www.seyahatsagligi.gov.tr and the hotline 444 77 34 and provide services for 24/7 before or during any journey," he stated, adding that they take precautions in line with World Health Organization regulations.
"Detailed information on Ebola was given to all organizations and institutions working at the airports," he added.
There have been two suspicious Ebola cases in Istanbul in which turned out to be malaria.
In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has claimed over a thousand lives in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Four fatalities have also been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The tropical fever, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.
The WHO describes the Ebola virus disease as "one of the most virulent."
