Members of the second medical team to help Liberia against the Ebola virus under the appointment of the Heilongjiang Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission returned safely to Harbin Taiping International Airport on Oct 18 after finishing their mission abroad.

Experts in the medical team include Dr. Chen Guolin and Dr. Jin Songgen from the infectious disease department and ICU of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, respectively, and Dr. Zhao Yingnan of the Heilongjiang Provincial Center for Disease Control.

The medical team left China on Sept 18, 2014. Upon arrival at Monrovia, capital of Liberia, they joined the Heilongjiang medical teams in Liberia and engaged in medical aid and disease control of Ebola immediately. Their work lasted one month.

Dr. Chen Guolin, leader of the team, said that they were mainly in charge of disease prevention and health education for Chinese citizens in Liberia. In the meantime, they undertook prevention, treatment and screening of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

Liberia is in abject poverty. The living conditions of the local people are rather harsh, and drinking water is unhygienic. Members of the medical team suffered from diarrhea when they first arrived. However, they insisted on carrying out the publicity, education and screening of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

When a patient with fever was discovered, common local diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera and malaria must be ruled out first. Then, the patient will be quarantined.

When talking about his stay in Liberia, Dr. Jin, an intensive care specialist, felt very sorry for the fact that most local people couldn’t get treatment after they fell ill because of their poverty. Their disease will aggravate their poor condition. Dr. Jin said that right after he is cleared from quarantine, he will go back to his work so he can do more for patients.

Ebola virus causes a disease of high mortality with a death rate of 70 percent. Currently, the prevention and control of Ebola is facing a grave situation. More than 4,500 people have been killed by the disease so far, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Related: Harbin medical specialists fly to Liberia