The Danish Health and Medicines Authority has issued guidelines on how to handle the Ebola virus disease. We still assess that the risk of Ebola reaching Denmark is low, and we have efficient health preparedness plans to detect suspected cases of Ebola virus disease. The guidelines are aimed at hospitals, prehospital organisations, general practitioners, emergency service doctors etc.
Risk of infection
Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with blood, secretions and other bodily fluids. Healthcare professionals and relatives are most at risk of being infected.
The time interval from infection to onset of symptoms (the incubation period) for Ebola virus is usually 4 to 10 days, but may vary from 2 to 21 days. The patient is not infectious during the incubation period. The risk of infection is high if people have had face-to-face contact with a patient who is coughing, vomiting, having diarrhoea or bleeding from the skin, mucous membranes and bodily orifices. Other high-risk situations in the affected countries include the participation in burial ceremonies, eating of meat from wild animals, stays in bat caves etc.
Travellers returning from countries hit by an outbreak of Ebola virus disease
No special precautions apply to healthy people with a low risk of infection who are returning from countries hit by an outbreak of Ebola virus disease.
In general, all travellers returning from Africa with a febrile disease occurred during or after the travel are recommended to seek medical care. This is to rule out malaria or other serious infectious diseases.
Patients with a fever and a low risk of infection who have stayed in a country hit by an outbreak of Ebola virus disease within 21 days from the onset of symptoms can be examined in medical practices, emergency rooms etc.
In case of a strong suspicion of Ebola virus disease, the patient must be hospitalised immediately in a department of infectious diseases at Hvidovre Hospital or Aarhus University Hospital.
Travellers to countries hit by an outbreak of Ebola virus disease
Travellers should seek information on the websites of The State Serum Institute and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. These websites are updated as new information becomes available from WHO and the affected countries.
About the outbreak
Since March 2014, cases of Ebola virus disease have been reported in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the disease recently reached Nigeria. According to WHO, more than 1,700 cases of Ebola virus disease had been reported as of 4 August 2014, including more than 900 deaths. This is the largest outbreak of Ebola virus disease, and WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak a ’Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)’.
The Danish Health and Medicines Authority still assesses that the risk of Ebola reaching Denmark is low, and there is no risk of an Ebola outbreak in Denmark. Denmark has efficient health preparedness plans to detect suspected cases of Ebola virus disease.
Guidelines
Read more
Information on the outbreak of Ebola virus disease on WHO's website: WHO's Global Alert and Response