French hospitals, airlines take precautionary steps against Ebola virus

French hospitals have taken preemptive steps to care for any patients who may become infected with the deadly Ebola virus that was declared by the World Health Organisation on Friday a global health emergency.

Since the beginning of the year, the virus, which causes severe fever and hemorrhaging, has claimed 961 lives and infected nearly 1,800 people with a fatality rate that can run as high as 90 percent.

With many people travelling to and from West African nations – where the virus is epidemic in several countries – France is on alert.

“The risk of importation is low, but in view of the disease’s virulent nature, great vigilance is needed," said France’s Health Ministry. 

France has also indicated that it will fully participate in any international or European responses to help curb its spread.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said the risk of importation to the EU is very low, as long as basic precautions – and avoiding contact with bodily fluids of an infected person – are strictly taken.

France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned people against all non-necessary travel to the affected countries – notably Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and most recently Nigeria – and Air France is screening all people boarding flights to the region.

In addition, nine French hospitals have readied isolation rooms and implemented infection control systems, including helicopter landing areas and laboratories to test for the virus, if any suspected cases arise.

France’s Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) says a suspected case can be considered if a person has a fever greater than or equal to 38.5 degrees Celsius (101.3 degrees Fahrenheit) within 21 days of returning from a risk zone.

While the risks of the seeing the virus in France or elsewhere in the EU, remain low, Friday’s declaration of a global alert for the Ebola virus was a call on the international community.

WHO director-general Margaret Chan said cooperation and coordination will be needed to stop the uptick in cases currently overwhelming medical workers on the frontline and weak local health care systems.

"Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own," said Chan. "I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible."

Meanwhile, clinical trials of a preventative vaccine for the virus made by British pharma company GlaxoSmithKline may start at the end of next month.

The vaccine could become available by 2015, according to the WHO.

"We are targeting September for the start of clinical trials, first in the United States and certainly in African countries, since that's where we have the cases," said Jean-Marie Okwo Bele, the WHO's head of vaccines and immunisation to Radio France Internationale.

Bele added that the urgency of the outbreak could help swiftly move forward the process of getting the drug to the market.