Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe and often fatal illness and one of the world's most virulent diseases.Reference Ftika and Maltezou1, Reference Feldmann2 It is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, and tissues of infected animals or people.3
Repeated efforts to find a natural reservoir of the virus have produced unclear results, but the fruit bat is suspected to be a reservoir.Reference Feldmann2 The virus first emerged near the Ebola river in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1976 and reappeared in South Sudan in 1979. Since then, there have been several outbreaks in rural Africa, but none has approached the magnitude of the current outbreak4 or have occurred in dense urban populations.
Cases in 6 African countries represent the largest EVD outbreak ever recorded.5 In response, a number of unaffected countries have made a range of travel-related advisories or recommendations. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa an “extraordinary event” and announced a global public health risk of international spread on August 8, 2014, emphasizing that a coordinated international response is necessary.Reference Hawkes6
Public Health Response of the Chinese Government
As of this writing, no one has been infected in China. However, China closely collaborates with West Africa in labor, business, and overseas education and also routinely sends medical aid and health teams to the region. Thus, the risk of importing the disease cannot be ignored. Chinese governmental cooperation with African countries is actively involved in the fight against Ebola. During the annual meeting of the Summer Davos forum in Tianjin, September 10, 2014, Premier Li Keqiang stated that China is prepared to “fight side by side” with West African countries to combat the Ebola epidemic.7
Chinese Response to West Africa
Medical Expertise
On August 10–11, 2014, China deployed disease control expert teams as well as medical supplies into Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to provide technical assistance to local health authorities.
Economic Assistance
China has deployed 3 teams of experts and supplies by chartered air to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The supplies, worth 30 million yuan ($4.9 million), included medical protective clothes, disinfectants, thermo-detectors, and medicines. An additional 200 million yuan ($32.54 million) package of humanitarian aid, including food, supplies for disease control, emergency treatment facilities, and capital support are scheduled for shipment to countries as well as to international aid organizations.8
Mobile Laboratory Teams
To further support Sierra Leone and to respond to the United Nations and WHO appeal, China sent a mobile laboratory testing team, equipped with 59 medical experts who specialize in laboratory testing, epidemiology, clinical medicine, and nursing to Sierra Leone on September 16. China has additionally dispatched 115 medical experts to Liberia and Guinea. Chinese medical staff in West African countries has reached 174 in total.
Internal Chinese Prevention Programs
The Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission has distributed a protocol for diagnosis, treatment, and rapid response of Ebola cases to 31 provincial health departments. Because China is involved in considerable economic and tourism travel with many countries, especially in Africa, Dong Xiaoping, a research fellow with the Institute of Virus of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), has warned that the virus has a risk of entering China through previously undetected individual human cases. Detection can be strengthened with individual checks at customs, although the possibility of an Ebola outbreak in China remains extremely low.
Six major governmental departments (the National Health and Family Planning Commission; the Ministry of Public Security; the General Ministration of Customs; the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine) have set up 5 supervision groups be located in Beijing, Shanghai, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. These groups will focus on entry and exit ports, designated hospitals, and disease control and prevention institutions to educate, train, and supervise on inspection and quarantine, as well as provide requirements and advice for prevention protocols.
Ebola Test Kits
Until now there has been no preventive vaccination or effective medications. A test kit for the Ebola virus, developed by China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, has received approval for mass production in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
National Ebola Research Lab
Chinese health officials have confirmed the establishment of a high-level safety standards laboratory expected to be completed by 2015 to focus research on the Ebola virus with the intent to develop a vaccine.9 China CDC has expressed that “Based on the evaluation by our experts from the China CDC, we may not prevent Ebola from entering China. However, as long as it lasts in Africa, it is more likely to be brought here. We are confident that our control and prevention mechanism is able to curb its spread.”
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Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe and often fatal illness and one of the world's most virulent diseases.Reference Ftika and Maltezou1, Reference Feldmann2 It is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, and tissues of infected animals or people.3
Repeated efforts to find a natural reservoir of the virus have produced unclear results, but the fruit bat is suspected to be a reservoir.Reference Feldmann2 The virus first emerged near the Ebola river in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1976 and reappeared in South Sudan in 1979. Since then, there have been several outbreaks in rural Africa, but none has approached the magnitude of the current outbreak4 or have occurred in dense urban populations.
Cases in 6 African countries represent the largest EVD outbreak ever recorded.5 In response, a number of unaffected countries have made a range of travel-related advisories or recommendations. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa an “extraordinary event” and announced a global public health risk of international spread on August 8, 2014, emphasizing that a coordinated international response is necessary.Reference Hawkes6
Public Health Response of the Chinese Government
As of this writing, no one has been infected in China. However, China closely collaborates with West Africa in labor, business, and overseas education and also routinely sends medical aid and health teams to the region. Thus, the risk of importing the disease cannot be ignored. Chinese governmental cooperation with African countries is actively involved in the fight against Ebola. During the annual meeting of the Summer Davos forum in Tianjin, September 10, 2014, Premier Li Keqiang stated that China is prepared to “fight side by side” with West African countries to combat the Ebola epidemic.7
Chinese Response to West Africa
Medical Expertise
On August 10–11, 2014, China deployed disease control expert teams as well as medical supplies into Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to provide technical assistance to local health authorities.
Economic Assistance
China has deployed 3 teams of experts and supplies by chartered air to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The supplies, worth 30 million yuan ($4.9 million), included medical protective clothes, disinfectants, thermo-detectors, and medicines. An additional 200 million yuan ($32.54 million) package of humanitarian aid, including food, supplies for disease control, emergency treatment facilities, and capital support are scheduled for shipment to countries as well as to international aid organizations.8
Mobile Laboratory Teams
To further support Sierra Leone and to respond to the United Nations and WHO appeal, China sent a mobile laboratory testing team, equipped with 59 medical experts who specialize in laboratory testing, epidemiology, clinical medicine, and nursing to Sierra Leone on September 16. China has additionally dispatched 115 medical experts to Liberia and Guinea. Chinese medical staff in West African countries has reached 174 in total.
Internal Chinese Prevention Programs
The Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission has distributed a protocol for diagnosis, treatment, and rapid response of Ebola cases to 31 provincial health departments. Because China is involved in considerable economic and tourism travel with many countries, especially in Africa, Dong Xiaoping, a research fellow with the Institute of Virus of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), has warned that the virus has a risk of entering China through previously undetected individual human cases. Detection can be strengthened with individual checks at customs, although the possibility of an Ebola outbreak in China remains extremely low.
Six major governmental departments (the National Health and Family Planning Commission; the Ministry of Public Security; the General Ministration of Customs; the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine) have set up 5 supervision groups be located in Beijing, Shanghai, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. These groups will focus on entry and exit ports, designated hospitals, and disease control and prevention institutions to educate, train, and supervise on inspection and quarantine, as well as provide requirements and advice for prevention protocols.
Ebola Test Kits
Until now there has been no preventive vaccination or effective medications. A test kit for the Ebola virus, developed by China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, has received approval for mass production in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
National Ebola Research Lab
Chinese health officials have confirmed the establishment of a high-level safety standards laboratory expected to be completed by 2015 to focus research on the Ebola virus with the intent to develop a vaccine.9 China CDC has expressed that “Based on the evaluation by our experts from the China CDC, we may not prevent Ebola from entering China. However, as long as it lasts in Africa, it is more likely to be brought here. We are confident that our control and prevention mechanism is able to curb its spread.”
Acknowledgment
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71473264).