Thailand Is Unlikely To See Ebola Victims

BANGKOK : -- Thai hospitals ready and able to tackle cases if they do show up, expert says.

Public should not panic over the Ebola outbreak in West Africa due to unsubstantiated social media reports, as there is little chance the deadly virus will make its way to Thailand - and even if it did, health organisations are well prepared to handle it, a seminar in Bangkok was told yesterday.

The virus is not airborne and can only be transmitted by direct contact, senior doctors said at "How to Handle the Ebola Virus When It Reaches Thailand.

Ebola virus's transmission is similar to that of HIV/Aids, which transmits only when there is a contact between organs and blood," said Dr Yong Poovorawan of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine.

He emphasised that it would be quite difficult for the disease to spread in Thailand.

He said there had been 20 Ebola outbreaks over the past four decades, but most were in West Africa.

Influenza spread quicker than Ebola due to the former being an airborne virus.

People could also contract Ebola through direct contact with a sufferer's blood or urine, he said.

With an Ebola mortality rate of 60 to 90 per cent, Yong assured the public that all hospitals would be able to control an outbreak.

Dr Narin Hiransuthikul, of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, said there was no specified vaccine for the virus and the only way a doctor could help an Ebola patient was to give them medication to relieve the symptoms so the immune system could better fight the disease.