In fear and anxiety

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.

Every second German is afraid of Ebola - the risk of infection is almost zero. But what happens when the helpers return home from Africa in large numbers?

The horror images from Africa have burned themselves into the collective brain - also in Germany. According to surveys, more than half are afraid of Ebola. It is currently almost impossible to get infected here. Quite simply because according to all knowledge - apart from the flown in and isolated patients - there are no infected people in this country.

That could change in the next few months. The Bundeswehr will send 1,500 soldiers to the crisis areas, the German Red Cross wants to open two clinics, which will require several hundred medical helpers to operate. Because of the high levels of stress on site, the volunteers will be relieved after four weeks - and will return home. It is uncertain that none of them will be infected by then. And of course, as has already happened elsewhere, ordinary travelers can introduce the virus at any time.

Call for quarantine

The first voices are already being heard calling for a three-week quarantine for all returning helpers, as is currently being practiced in some US states. According to the Rheinischer Post, this is also what the health policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Hilde Mattheis, calls for.

Leading German virologists did not support such a measure. Prof. Alexander Kekulé, holder of the chair for medical microbiology and virology at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, described the request in the ARD morning magazine as “complete nonsense”. One should not pretend that the returnees are all potentially infected. That sends a completely wrong signal.

Pure actionism?

There will also be no increased controls at airports for the time being. Measuring the body temperature of all travelers is like looking for a needle in a haystack, said the spokeswoman for the Robert Koch Institute, Susanne Glasmacher, in an interview with WDR 5 Morgenecho: "There is no good data that would prove that that is more than actionism. "

The aim is to isolate Ebola sufferers and their close contacts as quickly as possible in an emergency. In fact, Germany seems to be well equipped for this: trained staff in seven competence and treatment centers, 50 highly secured beds for Ebola patients and a detailed catalog of measures from the Robert Koch Institute for all resident doctors.

A lack of routine is the greatest danger

However, any chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And that could be the lack of routine in dealing with the disease at the moment. There are a few examples of this:

• In the USA, a nurse who was already feverish and had previous contact with Ebola sufferers was granted permission to travel by air just because her body temperature was just below the specified limit.
• In Spain, two hospital employees were infected - allegedly because they had not complied with all protective regulations.
• In Germany, the fire brigade simply sprayed the vomit of a man who was - albeit wrongly - suspected of having Ebola with a hose from the platform.
• Even with the deceased Ebola patient in Leipzig one was initially at a loss after his death. You were prepared for your stay in the isolation ward - but how did you transport the infectious corpse to the crematorium? In the end, the solution consisted of two body bags placed inside each other instead of the usual one. How certain that actually was is unclear.

The examples show that insecurities and a lack of routine can lead to serious mishaps. And so it cannot be ruled out that individual people will also become infected in Germany.

No reason to panic

This is by no means a cause for panic. Ebola is only infectious when the patient shows symptoms such as high fever, diarrhea and vomiting. You don't catch Ebola like a cold. You can only become infected in direct contact with the patient or body fluids such as blood, vomit, sweat or urine.

The example of Nigeria shows how effectively the epidemic can be contained even under far more difficult conditions through consistent and rapid intervention. In the most populous country in Africa, in the middle of the metropolis of Lagos, an immigrant sick person infected a total of 20 people - eight of them died. The WHO has now declared the country Ebola-free again.

Tags:  prevention laboratory values vaccinations