Hotline for Zika virus

Línea de atención telefónica sobre el virus Zika

Beuy Joob Viroj Wiwanitkit About the authors

Dear editor:

The publication Hotline for Zika virus11. M. Díaz-Menéndez, F. de la Calle-Prieto, M. Arsuaga, et al. Línea de atención telefónica sobre virus Zika: experiencia de una unidad de medicina tropical y del viajero. Gac Sanit. (2017 Jun 20). pii: S0213-9111(17)30126-7 is very interesting. Díaz-Menéndez et al.11. M. Díaz-Menéndez, F. de la Calle-Prieto, M. Arsuaga, et al. Línea de atención telefónica sobre virus Zika: experiencia de una unidad de medicina tropical y del viajero. Gac Sanit. (2017 Jun 20). pii: S0213-9111(17)30126-7 concluded that “The implementation of call devices that provide confirmed and reliable information on diseases associated with great alarm are of significant public health interest, as they reduce the number of unnecessary medical consultations and save on medical costs”. We would like to discuss and shares idea on this issue. In fact, the hotline advantage can be expected. Nevertheless, the availability of the phone in remoted rural area in several developing countries where Zika virus exists is limited and this can be the big limitation of using hotline service. Also, if there is a cost for calling, it might be a big problem for the poor in the rural community to assess the hotline service. In addition, the knowledge of the practitioners who give the consultation has to be checked and validated. Of interest, during the early phase of outbreak in our setting, Thailand, most of the medical personnel still lack for knowledge on disease and might not be able to give correct information to general people.22. S. Wiwanitkit, V. Wiwanitkit. Zika virus infection, do medical personnel know about the situation? Ann Trop Med Public Health., 9 (2016), pp. 361-362 Finally, an interesting problem that should be discussed is the system to prevent the nuisance calls which is a common problem observed in hotline service that is corresponding to the emerging disease33. V. Wiwanitkit. Emergency calls for swine flu: how to deal with nuisance calls? J Emerg Med., 41 (2011), p. 676..

References

  • 1
    M. Díaz-Menéndez, F. de la Calle-Prieto, M. Arsuaga, et al. Línea de atención telefónica sobre virus Zika: experiencia de una unidad de medicina tropical y del viajero. Gac Sanit. (2017 Jun 20). pii: S0213-9111(17)30126-7
  • 2
    S. Wiwanitkit, V. Wiwanitkit. Zika virus infection, do medical personnel know about the situation? Ann Trop Med Public Health., 9 (2016), pp. 361-362
  • 3
    V. Wiwanitkit. Emergency calls for swine flu: how to deal with nuisance calls? J Emerg Med., 41 (2011), p. 676.

  • Funding: None.

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    May-Jun 2018
Sociedad Española de Salud Pública y Administración Sanitaria (SESPAS) Barcelona - Barcelona - Spain
E-mail: gs@elsevier.com