No confirmed ebola case in Sierra Leone

The Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation said Wednesday that there is no "confirmed" ebola case in Sierra Leone. Dr. Brima Kargbo told in a telephone interview that since the outbreak in the Republic of Guinea about three weeks ago the Ministry dispatched a disease surveillance team to the suspected community in Kailahun District in the border between Guinea and Sierra Leone to confirm a reported death case of a person with ebola. Kargbo said the team discovered that there was no such case. A civil society activist however reported on a local radio Wednesday morning that he got a report from a councillor in the Kambia District, north of Sierra Leone, that four people are reported dead of bleeding, suspected to be ebola to which the Chief Medical Officer responded that the ministry has dispatched a health team to ascertain and confirm the report. Kargbo insisted that it has not yet being confirmed as it is only the laboratory test that can confirm it. He said since the outbreak in Guinea, the ministry has set up a National Task Force as a rapid response effort to address any reported case. He maintained that the ministry is in constant teleconference with partners in Guinea, Liberia and Burkina Faso, the regional headquarter of the World Health Organisation (WHO), exchanging valid information on the disease. He disclosed that the Lassa Fever program in Kenema in the east of Sierra Leone is fully equipped to handle Hemorrhagic fevers. He further noted that District Health Teams have also been set up in various border areas in the country to report any suspected case of the fever. Kargbo urged the public not to panic as the ministry and its partners are "on top of the situation" for any eventuality.