Montenegro Takes no Chances Over Ebola

Montenegrin health authorities on Thursday said a specialist medical team for Ebola had been formed, although the country has not registered a single case of the disease.

The five-member team has already identified health care institutions and hotels that could use as temporary quarantine facility, the National Institute of Health said on Thursday.

In August 8, one person was detained in Montenegro, on suspicion of having become infected with the virus from Nigeria, the country struggling with most Ebola cases.

Since then, five people have been kept under surveillance -  two foreign nationals and three Montenegrin citizens, simply because they had been in countries where the disease has been reported.

Montenegro does not have its own laboratory in which Ebola can be diagnosed, so the Institute for Public Health is discussing the possibility of sending samples to Italy.

"By the end of this month, we could sign a contract with Italy, which will provide official cooperation with their laboratory for Ebola," the Ministry of Health said.

The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea and has since spread to other West African countries, sparking a panic about a worldwide epidemic.

The disease is untreatable and is transmitted by bodily fluids, with initial symptoms of fever, muscle ache, weakness and headaches, which can lead to complete failure of the internal organs and death.

About 90 per cent of those suffering from the virus are reported to have died. As of 10 September, the World Health Organization, WHO, reported a total of 5,232 suspected cases and 2,630 deaths.