Freetown — In the third installment of our collaborative video series with Okayafrica, we visit a key strategy of the Ebola response: the District Surveillance Officers, meeting Virginia and Umaru, two medical students volunteering with the response.
Every day these teams - based in different communities in every district across the country - are tasked with evaluating possible new Ebola cases, so that patients can be identified and isolated as quickly as possible. After receiving a daily list of cases to be investigated, the team must determine if anyone meets the case definition of Ebola. Known as "fever plus three," patients who have a fever plus any three other Ebola symptoms (which include diarrhea, vomiting severe headache, muscle pain and weakness/fatigue, and unexplained bleeding or bruising) must be brought to a holding center for testing. Anyone who has had contact with a person who tested positive for Ebola must then be monitored daily.
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