Tanzania dispatched medical experts in regions bordering DRC to control Ebola

Tanzania has dispatched a team of medical experts in six regions in an effort to improve detection and information systems against outbreak of Ebola, a senior official said Monday.

Tanzania's move came three days after after World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Mpoki Ulisubisya, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Elderly, Gender and Children said in a statement that medical experts have been dispatched in Mwanza, Kagera, Kigoma, Katavi, Rukwa and Songwe regions.

"We chose the regions because they are in a great threat since the suspected people with Ebola can penetrate if precaution were not taken," the official said.

He also said other entry points which are under surveillance, included all international and mini airports, Kigoma port in Lake Tanganyika, Rusumo, Kabanga and Mtukula borders in Kagera region.

Ulisubisya said that in all entry points passengers moving across the border from DRC, must undergo thermal screen to see if they had been affected with Ebola virus.

"Although there is no reported case of Ebola, but as a country we need to put all measures in place," Ulisubisya said.

Among measures, the official said Tanzanian government had modified its national laboratories of Mbeya and Dar es Salaam to test blood samples.

On May 12, this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an Ebola outbreak in the DRC where among nine people suspected to have contracted the deadly virus, three died, with one case of Ebola confirmed through tests at the national laboratory in the capital Kinshasa, WHO Congo representative Allarangar Yokouide said in a statement. Endit