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Original poster

To cancel my holiday due to Ebola epidemic

89 replies

salonebabe · 19/07/2014 20:40

I'm going to Sierra Leone in a few weeks time, but I'm getting extremely anxious about the Ebola epidemic (www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/jul/17/ebola-sierra-leone-epidemic).

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice is still that there is minimal risk to tourists. Maybe I am worrying needlessly, but I suspect the problem is far worse than the official WHO figures are suggesting. I also don't think the FCO appreciate the realities of travel within Sierra Leone - jam packed buses, ferries and taxis etc. Unless the FCO issue a 'don't travel' advisory, I'll be unable to cancel and claim on my travel insurance.

I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time, so really don't want to cancel. I also can't afford to lose the money already spent on flights and accommodation.

Are there any medical experts here who could help me decide whether I should cancel or not? I appreciate that I, like most people, am not very good at assessing risk objectively, and I don't feel that I have enough information to make an informed decision. If a doctor on these forums was to say that they would have no problem travelling, or the converse, then that would help me make my decision.

OP posts:

QuintessentiallyQS · 22/07/2014 17:49

"I would like the tradition of handshakes to die out, stand in any toilet and even the "poshest/groomed" people don't wash their hands."

Ay.

Like what happened at Christmas mass in my cousins parish. Man with a sickie bug went to mass, had to dash to the toilet a few times, goodness knows about his hand hygiene, but he proceeded to shake hands with all his fellow parishioners after the service. Guess what the entire congregation and their families had by the 26th?

Handshakes are evil.

I also think you will be more at risk visiting family, than visiting as a tourist.

A friend (from Nigeria) got Malaria visiting family back home, and dengue fever on another occasion (or something similar to dengue?)

Ilovenewts · 22/07/2014 18:08

Lots of people go to Sierra Leone. The civil war ended there more than 10 years ago now.
It's beautiful and is a good place for Eco tourism.

That said I don't know if I'd go right now. It is a risk even though it's small it's avoidable if you don't visit. If you are going near an infected region I wouldn't. Otherwise I'd still consider it.

KenAdams · 30/07/2014 21:01

Don't know if you're still considering going OP but the FCO updated its travel advice on the 25th.

SteeleyeSpanx · 30/07/2014 21:22

I wouldn't go...if the airports are suddenly closed due to spread of the disease, you would be completely screwed.

A friend with business operations in SL has repatriated all his staff for this reason

mignonette · 30/07/2014 21:28

Am totally at some of the comments on here about visiting Sierra Leone. Of all the gormless comments 'why would anybody want to visit SL?' and their ilk...total xenophobia.

temporaryusername · 30/07/2014 22:52

I wouldn't dare right now. I am a huge worrier but I don't think it is just me on this one. It is partly just that you have to balance the risk of getting it with how bad it would be if you did. I mean, if there was an 80% of getting a mere cold, you'd probably go, but this is a different kind of risk. I think there is talk of closing the borders or stopping flights, so you may not be able to go anyway, or may get stuck there.

I think they should stop flights, I know he was not travelling from SL, but look how much that one man flying to Lagos has potentially changed the global picture for this epidemic. I've also heard that businesses are evacuating.

Hopefully you'll be able to get some good advice from the people you're going to call, and I just desperately hope this outbreak will be under control soon for the sake of the people already there. Would it be possible to postpone or change your dates without losing money?

Thefishewife · 31/07/2014 07:29

Op why not go Mauritius like very one else

Why risk your life if would be near impossible to stay away from crowds and like others have said you could kill yourself and be the cause of Ebola in uk killing me and my family I would suggest the south of france

StealthPolarBear · 31/07/2014 07:37

Why on earth are people saying cities are safer than rural areas? Surely it will be just the opposite. I'd really like to know

hellokittymania · 31/07/2014 07:39

Can you find an expat and ask them? Someone living there might be helpful too.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 31/07/2014 08:39

Why on earth are people saying cities are safer than rural areas? Surely it will be just the opposite. I'd really like to know

Not sure about SL, but that doesn't seem to have been the case in Guinea. Possibly there's a number of reasons for that.

If it was something like a flu virus, then they can spread like wildfire in densely populated areas. You're infectious before you know you have it, it's a milder illness and it's airborne so you really only need to be within sneezing/coughing distance of someone to catch it. It's much harder to catch Ebola. It isn't infectious until you are symptomatic. Once you become symptomatic the symptoms can come on so quickly, that you are unlikely to be going anywhere to infect anyone. It's also not airborne so you need to have direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is symptomatic in order to catch it.

It's not normally a virus that's associated with very large and widespread outbreaks because it mainly only spreads to very close contacts or through medical facilities with poor infection control procedures.

Sleepyhoglet · 31/07/2014 08:48

I wouldn't just because if the severity eg no vaccination.

StealthPolarBear · 31/07/2014 08:56

But I don't see how that means that rural areas are more risky?

QuintessentiallyQS · 31/07/2014 09:01

Maybe worse sanitation and lack of running water? Where do you deposit bodily fluids if no toilet?

hellokittymania · 31/07/2014 09:10

Also, people in the countryside often don't have access to information/might not have means to get to and pay a doctor/might feel stigma if they admit to being ill.

QuintessentiallyQS · 31/07/2014 09:14

Maybe more would be cared for at home by relatives rather than journeying sick into the nearest hospital that could be miles away and difficult to get to?

thegreylady · 31/07/2014 09:17

I now think you should not go. The situation is worsening. Many airlines are suspending flights to Freetown.

saloke · 31/07/2014 09:20

Sierra Leone have declared Ebola emergency
Hope link works

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28579890

StealthPolarBear · 31/07/2014 09:42

Yes that makes sense thanks. I was thibking aboit access to healthcare which I dont thibk is crucial with ebola. I get what people are saying about it not being airborne but surely the risks of contracting it are higher in more densely populated areas?

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 31/07/2014 09:49

I don't think it necessarily means it's more risky in rural areas, just that it's not the case that opposite is true.

I suppose it is also possible that medical facilities are better equipped for infection control in urban areas.

choochootrain1 · 31/07/2014 09:54

I wouldn't go. If SL suddenly shuts down due to it, you'll be stuck - if the UK suddenly decides to quarantine, again you'll be stuck for a while. I personally wouldn't be able to enjoy myself and relax currently with friends and family - hand shaking/hugging etc. I would postpone your holiday till it's under control

OhYouBadBadKitten · 31/07/2014 19:41

The US are now recommending against non essential travel.

scaevola · 31/07/2014 21:00

CDC has upgraded its level 2 health warning to level 3 for Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and that includes warning against non-essential travel, though CDC continues to send experts.

It seems (from Washington Post) that a number of US doctors and missionaries have fallen ill:

"Kent Brantly, a physician, “took a turn for the worse” on Wednesday night, according to a statement from the group. But when he was offered an experimental serum sent to the country Wednesday, there was only enough for one person so he asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol"

Doubtfuldaphne · 31/07/2014 22:23

They have now declared a state of emergency in SL.
Please don't go - this is deadly. If you contracted it and brought it to the UK it would be catastrophic

musicalendorphins2 · 01/08/2014 06:22

I wouldn't go. [[http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/07/31/sierra_leone_declares_public_health_emergency_in_hopes_of_halting_ebola.html In the capital Freetown — which is 400 km west of the outbreak epicentre in eastern Sierra Leone — the fear on the streets is now “palpable,” said Stephen Douglas, a Canadian media development professional who has lived in the country for five years.

“People are selling plastic gloves, rubber gloves, and there are buckets of chlorine set up on street corners,” he said. “It’s not panic yet . . . (but there is) more and more fear and people are very guarded.”]]

musicalendorphins2 · 01/08/2014 06:41

salonebabe,I would wait until this is over, then visit. Traveling back and forth from a place during state of emergency for Ebola, could spread it even further. I'd rather take a financial loss than a human loss. It wouldn't be worth the risk. I am sure many will be cancelled. You even could risk getting it on the trip coming back, or at the airport.

Good luck, salonebabe,...and anyone else with ties to the infected areas...and I hope your family and friends back home get through it unscathed.

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