The Ministry of Health on August 7 issued an action plan on preventing the Ebola virus disease in Vietnam as the disease is raging across West Africa and likely to enter and break out in the country unless preventive measures are taken proactively.

The ministry said as of August 1, Vietnam had not recorded any Ebola cases, but the deadly virus may enter the country through tourists, guest workers coming from or others transiting via West African countries.

To be well braced for Ebola, the ministry has ordered its disease prevention steering committee, provincial departments of health, preventive medicine centres, hospitals and relevant agencies to ready their infrastructure, equipment and personnel.

It has also been working with customs agencies to closely monitor people, animals, vehicles and goods travelling through border gates to take control of the situation.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

It then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.

The disease is a severe acute viral illness often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

On August 6, WHO reported Ebola death toll rose to 932, mostly in West African countries.-VNA