Both the Maritime Administration and the United States Coast
Guard have recently issued bulletins regarding the Ebola guidance. Each guidance is reproduced below.
“To date, there have been 1603 confirmed cases of
individuals infected with the Ebola virus worldwide with 887 deaths. The
epidemic is slowing in Guinea but continues unabated in Liberia and Sierra
Leone. Also, four cases have been reported in Nigeria. There have been two
reported cases of Americans serving in health care or missionary work in West
Africa but, no reported cases in Department of Defense, Coast Guard, or with
U.S. mariners. The Center of Disease Control (CDC) has issued travel warnings.
We strongly recommend that personnel traveling to those affected countries
review travel alerts issued by the CDC prior to their arrival. Travel alert
information can be found at: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices
Some key points to remember concerning Ebola:
• Symptoms include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches,
sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. In
addition, skin rash, red eyes, and internal and external bleeding may be seen
in some patients.
• Travelers could be infected if they come into contact with
blood or body fluids from someone who is sick or has died from Ebola, sick
wildlife, or meat from an infected animal. Health care providers caring for
Ebola patients and family and friends in close contact with an ill person are
at highest risk because they may come into contact with blood or body fluids.
• Monitor your health for 21 days if you were in an area
with an Ebola outbreak, especially if you were in contact with blood or body
fluids, items that have come in contact with blood or body fluids, animals or
raw meat, or hospitals where Ebola patients are being treated.
Vessel owners/operators and local stakeholders should be
aware of the following:
• Vessel representatives are required to report sick or
deceased crew or passengers within the last 15 days to the CDC under 42 CFR
71.21. Regional CDC quarantine station points of contact can be found at:
http://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/QuarantineStationContactListFull.html
• The Coast Guard will review all Notice of Arrivals to
determine if a vessel has visited a country impacted by Ebola virus outbreak
within its last five ports of call.
• Vessel masters should inform any Coast Guard boarding
teams of any ill crewmembers on board.
• Local industry stakeholders, in partnership with their
Coast Guard Captain of the Port, should review and be familiar with section
5310 Procedures for Vessel Quarantine and Isolation, and Section 5320
Procedures for security segregation of Vessels in their Area Maritime Security
Plan.
• Local industry stakeholders, in partnership with their
Coast Guard Captain of the Port, should review and be familiar with their
Marine Transportation System Recovery Plan.
Questions regarding this should be forwarded to the Coast
Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance, Foreign and Offshore Vessel
Division (CG-CVC-2) at 202-372-1218 or by email at CGCVC@uscg.mil.
Captain Kyle McAvoy, U.S. Coast Guard, Chief Office of
Commercial Vessel Compliance (CG-CVC), sends.”
Advisory #: 2014-02
Date Issued: Sep
02 2014
To: All
Operators of U.S.-Flag, Effective U.S. Control Vessels, U.S. Merchant Mariners
and Other Maritime Interests
Subject:
Ebola Virus
THIS IS THE FULL TEXT VERSION OF MARAD ADVISORY
2014-02. THE NATIONAL
GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HAS TRANSMITTED A SHORTENED VERSION.
1. U.S.-FLAG OPERATORS ARE REQUESTED TO FORWARD THIS
ADVISORY TO THEIR SHIPS BY THE MOST EXPEDITIOUS MEANS.
2. EBOLA, ALSO KNOWN AS EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (EVD) AND EBOLA
HEMORRHAGIC FEVER, IS A RARE AND DEADLY DISEASE CAUSED BY A VIRAL INFECTION.
FIRST DISCOVERED IN 1976 NEAR THE EBOLA RIVER IN WHAT IS NOW THE DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, THE VIRUS AFFECTS HUMANS AND SOME ANIMALS. SINCE THEN,
OUTBREAKS HAVE APPEARED SPORADICALLY IN SEVERAL AFRICAN COUNTRIES. AS OF AUGUST
28, 2014, EBOLA HAS INFECTED 3,069 AND KILLED MORE THAN 1,552 PEOPLE IN FOUR
COUNTRIES (GUINEA, LIBERIA, SIERRA LEONE AND NIGERIA) SINCE THE CURRENT
OUTBREAK WAS FIRST DETECTED IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR.
3. SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA INCLUDE FEVER AND ADDITIONAL SYMPTOMS
SUCH AS SEVERE HEADACHE, MUSCLE PAIN, VOMITING, DIARRHEA, STOMACH PAIN, OR
UNEXPLAINED BLEEDING OR BRUISING. SYMPTOMS MAY APPEAR ANYWHERE FROM 2 TO 21
DAYS AFTER EXPOSURE TO EBOLA VIRUS, ALTHOUGH 8-10 DAYS IS THE MOST COMMON.
4. EBOLA IS SPREAD THROUGH DIRECT CONTACT WITH BLOOD OR BODY
FLUIDS (URINE, SALIVA, FECES, VOMIT AND SEMEN) FROM A PERSON WHO IS INFECTED
AND CURRENTLY HAS SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA. EBOLA MAY ALSO BE TRANSMITTED THROUGH
CONTACT WITH OBJECTS (E.G., NEEDLES) CONTAMINATED WITH BLOOD OR BODY FLUIDS
FROM A SYMPTOMATIC PERSON OR THROUGH CONTACT WITH, OR CONSUMPTION OF AN ANIMAL
INFECTED WITH EBOLA. THE VIRUS ENTERS THE HUMAN BODY THROUGH MUCOUS MEMBRANES
(E.G., EYES, NOSE OR MOUTH) OR THROUGH BREAKS IN THE SKIN. PEOPLE ARE
INFECTIOUS AS LONG AS THEIR BLOOD AND SECRETIONS CONTAIN THE VIRUS. EBOLA IS
NOT AIRBORNE AND IT CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED FROM A PERSON WHO IS NOT SYMPTOMATIC.
5. THE LIKELIHOOD OF CONTRACTING EBOLA IS VERY LOW UNLESS
THERE HAS BEEN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE BLOOD OR BODY FLUIDS FROM A SYMPTOMATIC
PERSON OR AN ANIMAL INFECTED WITH EBOLA, OR WITH A CONTAMINATED OBJECT. SIMPLY TRAVELING TO AN AREA WHERE EBOLA IS
PRESENT DOES NOT MEAN A PERSON WILL BE EXPOSED TO THE VIRUS. GIVEN THE UNPRECEDENTED NUMBERS OF CASES
ASSOCIATED WITH THIS OUTBREAK, THE U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND
PREVENTION (CDC) ISSUED A LEVEL 3 WARNING TO
AVOID NON-ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TO SIERRA LEONE, GUINEA AND LIBERIA, AND A
LEVEL 2 ALERT TO PRACTICE ENHANCED PRECAUTIONS
IF TRAVELING TO NIGERIA OR THE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO. PRECAUTIONS
INCLUDE PRACTICING CAREFUL HYGIENE, AVOIDING CONTACT WITH BLOOD AND BODY FLUIDS
OF PERSONS SICK WITH EBOLA OR WITH ITEMS THAT MAY HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH
SUCH FLUIDS, AVOIDING CONTACT WITH WILD ANIMALS AND AVOIDING RAW OR UNDERCOOKED
MEAT. OTHER PRECAUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON
THE CDC WEBSITE.
6. THE CDC MAINTAINS
UP-TO-DATE WEB RESOURCES WHICH PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE
OUTBREAK, PREVENTATIVE STEPS THAT CAN BE TAKEN TO REMAIN HEALTHY BEFORE AND
DURING TRAVEL, AS WELL AS ACTIONS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN IF A TRAVELER BECOMES
ILL AT ANY POINT. THESE WEB RESOURCES,
ALONG WITH CDC TRAVEL NOTICES, CAN BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices and
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/. FURTHERMORE, U.S. MERCHANT MARINERS WITH ACCESS
TO UNCLASSIFIED HTTPS://WWW.INTELINK.GOV CAN ALSO ACCESS FORCE HEALTH
PROTECTION ADVISORIES FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE (NCMI)
FOR MORE SPECIFIC COUNTRY RELATED INFORMATION AT HTTPS://WWW.INTELINK.GOV/NCMI/."
7. THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) RECOMMENDS THAT
TRAVELERS TO AFFECTED AREAS AVOID ALL CONTACT WITH BLOOD, SECRETIONS, ORGANS OR
OTHER BODY FLUIDS OF INFECTED LIVING OR DEAD PERSONS OR ANIMALS, AND ADVISES
THAT PERSONS WHO HAVE HAD SUCH CONTACT, OR WHO HAVE AN ILLNESS CONSISTENT WITH
EBOLA, SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TRAVEL EXCEPT AS PART OF AN APPROPRIATE MEDICAL
EVACUATION. WHO DOES NOT OTHERWISE RECOMMEND ANY BAN ON INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL OR
TRADE.
8. THE US COAST GUARD HAS ISSUED A MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION
BULLETIN ON EBOLA VIRUS PRECAUTIONS, WHICH INCLUDES A REMINDER TO VESSEL
MASTERS TO REPORT SICK OR DECEASED CREW MEMBERS OR PASSENGERS TO THE CDC IN
ACCORDANCE WITH 42 CFR 71.21.
ADDITIONALY THE COAST GUARD REMINDS OWNERS, OPERATORS, AGENTS, MASTERS
OR PERSONS IN CHARGE OF THE REQUIREMENT TO IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY THE NEAREST COAST
GUARD SECTOR OFFICE OR GROUP OFFICE OF THE EXISTENCE OF HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS ON
THEIR VESSELS AS REQUIRED BY 33 CFR 160.215. THE COAST GUARD CONSIDERS
CREWMEMBERS INFECTED WITH EBOLA OR DECEASED FROM ILLNESS RELATED TO EBOLA A
HAZARDOUS CONDITION AS DEFINED BY 33 CFR 160.204 DEFINITION OF "HAZARDOUS
CONDITION”. THE COAST GUARD WILL CHECK ALL ADVANCE NOTICES OF ARRIVAL TO
DETERMINE WHETHER A VESSEL HAS VISITED A COUNTRY IMPACTED BY THE EBOLA VIRUS
OUTBREAK WITHIN THE PREVIOUS FIVE PORT CALLS.
THE BULLETIN IS AVAILABLE AT
HTTPS://WWW.USCG.MIL/MSIB/DOCS/012_14_8-7-2014.PDF.
9. MARAD ADVISORIES ARE PUBLISHED ON THE MARAD WEB SITE AT
HTTP://WWW.MARAD.DOT.GOV/NEWS_ROOM_LANDING_PAGE/MARITIME_ADVISORIES AND THE
MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION WEB SITE:
HTTP://MSI.NGA.MIL/NGAPORTAL/MSI.PORTAL. UNDER "BROADCAST
WARNINGS", SELECT MARAD ADVISORIES TO DETERMINE MARITIME ADVISORIES THAT
REMAIN IN FORCE. CONSULT THE MARITIME
ADMINISTRATION WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.MARAD.DOT.GOV OR THE MOST RECENT U.S.
NOTICE TO MARINERS.
10.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT CAPTAIN ROBERT FORD,
MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF SECURITY, CODE: MAR-420, ROOM W25-308, 1200
NEW JERSEY AVE, S.E., WASHINGTON, DC 20590, TELEPHONE 202-366-0223, TLX II
710.822.9426 (MARAD DOT WSH) OR EMAIL:
MARADSECURITY@DOT.GOV.
