Don’t be confused - symptoms of Ebola similar to dengue

PUTRAJAYA: The symptoms of Ebola virus disease (EVD) are similar to dengue fever, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

However, he said people were at risk of Ebola if they had been in contact with EVD-infected patients or visited EVD-infected countries.

The similar symptoms are fever, muscular ache, headache, sore throat, stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes and fatigue. 

Subramaniam said on Wednesday that those who did not contact an EVD patient or visit West African countries recently needed not worry of being infected despite suffering from similar symptoms. 

He added that an EVD outbreak might occur if a person, who had just returned in the past 21 days from countries such Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, experienced such symptoms. 

He was speaking at a media conference after attending an appreciation ceremony for the Malaysian Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team in Hilversum, the Netherlands, that helped in the identification and removal of the remains of the Flight MH17 crash victims in eastern Ukraine. 

Subramaniam also advised people to postpone visits to the affected countries and should a visit is necessary, they should avoid homes or health facilities affected in EVD outbreak. 

Members of the public were also advised not to touch items which might have been infected with fluid of patients such as blood, faeces or urine. 

According to Subramaniam, the government had put in place preventive measures at the country's main entry points at all airports to quarantine and examine tourists from the affected countries.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry confirmed a 24-year-old Zimbabwean student who was earlier quarantined at Sarawak General Hospital for suspected Ebola virus infection was found negative after laboratory tests on the student's clinical samples. 

In this regard, the ministry clarified that to date, there were no EVD cases in Malaysia. - Bernama