MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - Sierra Leone lawmakers have passed an amendment to the country’s health legislation imposing prison terms of up to two years on those hiding Ebola virus patients, according to Associated Press.
AP says the government of the West African country had to take this harsh measure to put an exclamation mark on the need to take patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus disease to isolation centers to end the massive outbreak that has already killed 392 people in Sierra Leone alone.
Back in June, the country’s health minister also said it was a crime to hide Ebola patients.
The World Health Organization says it has registered a total of 2,615 cases of infection, with 1,427 deaths recorded across West Africa. But these numbers are most likely lower than the actual figure due to the social stigma associated with the disease.
The Ebola virus disease is a highly deadly illness transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of the infected.
No licensed treatment or vaccine against the virus is yet available, though a number of companies in the United States, Japan and Canada have been working on one.
The United States previously delivered three doses of the experimental ZMapp serum to Liberia. According to the WHO health agency, some 10 or 12 doses of the serum currently exist.
Two American aid workers who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia became the first humans to be treated with ZMapp. Both recovered and were released from a hospital this week.
