As the semester ends and holiday travel commences, Redfern Health Center officials remind all faculty, staff and students to heed travel advisories from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
CDC urges all U.S. residents to avoid nonessential travel to Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone because of unprecedented outbreaks of Ebola in those countries and caution against travel to Mali. Up-to-date travel notices and information on the specific countries are available here.
Everyone returning from one of the four countries should monitor their body temperature twice daily for 21 days after travel. Anyone developing a fever of greater than 38 degrees Celsius or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or experiencing additional symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.
University officials continue to prepare and plan in case students, staff or faculty with possible exposure to the virus arrive on campus from the affected region. The university is working closely with South Carolina DHEC. Redfern Health Center employees have been trained on the signs and symptoms of the Ebola virus and will continue to be on high alert until the public health emergency has passed.
No Clemson University-affiliated persons have been identified as having traveled to or from the four affected countries as of Dec. 1, and no students from those countries are expected to arrive on campus for the spring semester.
Ebola virus is a severe, often fatal, disease in humans. It is not a respiratory disease like flu, so it is not transmitted through the air. Ebola virus is transmitted only through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected, symptomatic person or through exposure to contaminated objects (such as needles).
Symptoms, which may appear two to 21 days after exposure to Ebola virus, include: fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite, and abnormal bleeding. An individual would have to have direct contact with someone experiencing symptoms for disease transmission to occur.
For more information, visit the CDC and the Redfern Health Center websites.
