Dodoma — The Ministry of Health says no Ebola case has been reported in Tanzania, while maintaining the heightened entry screening and public-health precautions introduced last week after an imported case was detected in Kenya.
In a public notice issued on October 21, Chief Medical Officer Prof Bruno Fokas Sunguya said: “So far, there is no Ebola disease in Tanzania.” The Ministry said the alert remained necessary because of the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, and recent imported cases in neighbouring Kenya.
The statement updates the position reported on October 18, when Kenya had seven confirmed cases. The World Health Organisation now says Kenya has reported nine cases linked to an imported infection, while the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recorded one confirmed death as of October 20.
The CDC’s October 20 situation update says the first patient had travelled from the DRC to Nairobi via Uganda and died after being isolated. The subsequent Kenyan patients were relatives or health-care workers who had close contact with him and were already in quarantine when diagnosed; Kenyan authorities had reported no community transmission.
Tanzania’s October 21 notice does not impose a border closure. Instead, it reaffirms Travel Advisory No. 18, which requires all people arriving by air, land or sea to complete an online health-surveillance form and undergo health screening, including temperature checks, at points of entry.
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The advisory also provides for 21 days of monitoring by automated messages or other means for travellers assessed as high risk. It asks people who develop compatible symptoms to report to a health facility or port-health team, or to call the toll-free number 199.
The Ministry said it was strengthening screening at airports, ports and land borders; surveillance in communities and health facilities; readiness of treatment sites; supplies of medicines and personal protective equipment; and training for health workers. It also urged health workers to identify possible cases early, notify authorities promptly and follow infection-prevention rules.
That work builds on an updated national guideline for managing Ebola, Marburg and other filovirus cases that the Ministry and WHO finalised in September. The guideline is intended to standardise clinical care, infection prevention and the protection of health workers if a case is detected.
The virus involved in the current regional emergency is Bundibugyo virus disease, one form of Ebola disease. It spreads through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person or someone who has died, and through contaminated materials; people do not transmit it before symptoms begin, WHO says.
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WHO says symptoms can appear two to 21 days after infection and may include fever, marked tiredness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhoea.
The Ministry has advised people to wash their hands regularly, avoid touching bodily fluids or materials used by someone with Ebola-like symptoms, seek care quickly if unwell, and involve health professionals in any burial where a person has died with compatible symptoms.
The regional outbreak remains centred in the DRC. The CDC recorded 9,552 confirmed cases and 4,602 confirmed deaths there as of October 20, while WHO announced on October 20 that Nigeria had confirmed one imported case and was monitoring 44 contacts.
WHO has advised against blanket restrictions on travel or trade with affected countries, favouring surveillance, contact tracing, safe clinical care and infection control. Tanzania’s measures therefore focus on detecting possible imported cases early while keeping all travellers subject to the same entry-health requirements.
