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Tag: Ebola virus

  • All these Ebola Virus ‘remedies’ are making me dizzy

    Now, who watches the tertiary contacts that the secondary contacts come in contact with: families, friends, neighbours, fellow travelers and commuters, etc.?

    I believe by now that we have nearly exhausted all the names we want to call Patrick Sawyer, the unconscionable individual who struggled against many odds to ensure that he accomplished his life’s mission: introduce the Ebola virus into Nigeria. By the accounts, Patrick Sawyer’s sister had just died of the disease; he himself had succumbed to it; was already in quarantine for it; was advised against travelling out of the country; collapsed at his home airport from the ravages of the disease; yet, still insisted on flying to Nigeria with the disease. He came with such urgency you would think he had been paid to come and universalise the problem. Now, we have Ebola in the country.

    How we got into this sorry pass though cannot be totally blamed on that guy. True, he should have known better, but then we should have known even better than him. Come on now, we own the country; so we should have looked after it better. However, what with our massive corruption (worst in the world), our laziness (renowned throughout the world), and our lackadaisical attitude to work (definitely the most horrendous throughout the world), we stood no chance. Why, when you put the three departments together, we put even the badger that hibernates for half a year to shame.

    First, we hear for weeks that the entire west coast, with us sitting pert and pretty in the middle of it, is bursting at the seams with Ebola Virus and what do we do? We nap. We do not put all hospitals in the country on alert. We do not begin immediately to suspect that the thing might stray in our direction. We do not even cursorily look in our cupboards of drugs to make sure that we do not get caught out in the middle of the night. Criminal, I tell you. Now, its midnight in this huge country of over a hundred million people, and we have been caught snoring.

    Worse, we do not even man our airports well. Consider this. If Mr. Sawyer had persisted in coming into Nigeria, should he not have been stopped by the airport authorities in Liberia? A sick man ought not to leave his country, whether or not anyone knew what was wrong with him, without adequate medical cover and known details. But theirs is not the greater sin. The greater sin belongs to the Nigerian airport authorities who saw a desperately sick man and did not detain him right there even if ostensibly for medical attention. At a time, so the story goes, he was throwing up and even had to lie flat on the floor. I ask you, I ask you, should that not have told our personnel manning the entry points at the airport something and made them deny him entry?!!! Many Nigerians have been denied entry into other countries for much, much less than falling ill with an undisclosed ailment. I understand that just for having facial marks, a Nigerian had to sit for quite a while at an airport somewhere in the world until he could sufficiently explain he was not carrying a virus from a ‘fight’ with a tiger. Come on people, for how long will this country continue to look after us while we fail to do our jobs of looking after it by being responsible at our desks and for our desks? I tell you that the day is coming in this country when even the tardiest receptionist will have to explain why she stole two seconds to renew her lipstick. I certainly look forward to it.

    Now, look at our borders. Unmanned, that is the word. I understand that one state alone has more than sixty-eight legal entry and exit points towards the west coast, and all of them unmanned. Someone says there are thousands more that are illegally used. To that I say, hurray! In short, there are as many entries to the west coast as the feet can tread. Super! Yet, we have the resources and manpower to close them all up but then, there’s no political will. Where the political will exists, I am told, the Nigerian cunning, which makes us all subvert and pervert every universal good law and goodwill, comes in to play. In short, Nigerians will always find new ways of thwarting the law. Yep, but that is because her leaders do not like to live by example. Correction: the people are only following the leaders’ examples of lawlessness, law-breaking, bunkering, smuggling, piracy, open sea theft, open land theft, just name it.

    Truth is, I believe if Mr. Sawyer did not bring Ebola to Nigeria, sooner or later one or more of our itinerant traders who trek across the borders would certainly have. One, there is no one to stop them; two, there is no one to stop them; three, … So, between our airport laxities and our porous borders, we certainly have always been sitting ducks. Sadly, that is not all.

    Then there is the little matter of our national reactions when thunder strikes like this. Now, to what shall we liken it? It is more like someone who has been given shock treatment, you know, the kind they give to people who cannot remember what they had for dinner the day before. Anyway, before the outbreak, we could not get the health minister to say a wise word on the doctors’ strike, but since the outbreak, we have not been able to get him to keep quiet on Ebola. Every day, there he is in Abuja, giving us the update on the outbreak as relayed to him from Lagos, even if the news is usually sent over our heads to get to him. Comical, no?!

    Naturally, the situation has given rise to rumours and counter rumours on what to do in the event of one contracting it. First, we are told not to worry, should you by any quirky chance or fate contract Ebola Virus, just head straight for the nearest batch of what we know around here as bitter kola and begin to chew and chew and chew until you are told to stop, presumably by the person who started the rumour in the first place. Well, when I heard it, I thought, if it was so simple to cure, why was the west deceiving us and telling us that the thing had no cure yet? Why could they not simply contract it out to me to supply airplanes full of the stuff from my father’s farm free of charge?

    Next, I heard that text messages were being sent around asking people to take their baths in salt water, and even drink some of the water. Ha, I gaped!!! Do they want to kill people? That situation would be like one with a real dilemma: between the devil and the deep, blue sea. In that situation, it would be better to stay with the devil you know. I tell you, the sea can be mighty dangerous; salt water marshes are even more so. Actually, I thought, that rumour must have originated from the guy who probably paid the Sawyer guy to make sure that by all means, he touched Nigeria after contracting the disease.

    In our usual way of not being able to account for everybody in any given situation, many of those who came in contact with Mr. Sawyer, those called secondary contacts, are said to be ‘under observation’. Now, who watches the tertiary contacts that the secondary contacts come in contact with: families, friends, neighbours, fellow travelers and commuters, etc.? Then who watches the contacts that these ones will now come in contact with? Now, you get my worry. This country should act more proactively. It owes the people that.

  • Ebola campaign tops Rotary Ojo projects

    Ebola campaign tops Rotary Ojo projects

    In compliance to the global emergency required to create awareness to sensitise and save lives against the deadly Ebola Virus, international humanitarian organisations are gradually keying into the campaign.

    One of them is the Rotary Club of Ojo, which marked out the sum of N5million to implement health and disease control-related projects for the next 12 months for the people of Ojo Local Government and environs of Lagos State.

    Mr Odusanya Felix Olasunkan, who disclosed this after his induction as the 29th President of the club at the weekend said his Club intends to engage the service of medical experts and social welfare workers to widen the campaign.

    to aid that, the club has begun distributing fliers, detailing the symptoms to all the nooks and crannies of the Ojo communities and environ.

    We intend to take this campaign to maternity homes, primary healthcare centers, schools-Lagos State University (LASU), Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED  and Secondary Schools too and public arenas too, with the objective of creating awareness and save lives from the dreaded virus, he stated.

    Olasunkanmi said Donation of drugs and other health materials to Ojo Health Centers; Child Care Seminar and donation of Birth kike to pregnant Women; Rebuilding of a block of classroom and administrative office at L.A Primary School in Okoludun; Vocational\Empowerment Programme and donation of 20 Sewing Machines to youth in Ojo; Donation and Renovation of Bore-Hole to Ojo Community are among other projects mapped out for the new year.

     

  • Between the President’s Superman cape and Sherlock Holmes’ hat…

    While Mr. President was undecided on whether or not to don that cape, another enemy has gone and camped round about his territory, and that is the dreaded Ebola virus

    Honestly, a man should not have too many enemies. The tendency is that he would either have to spread his resources thin to cover his exposed flanks or he would overreact in fear by lashing out recklessly. Believe me, I know about reckless. I see it every day on the road when I see a young ‘un behind the wheel. They are the ones whose speedometers never read ‘I just want to get home to my family’ speeds. For your reckless youth, however, the meter is constantly reading between ‘It is great to be young, stupid and mad!!! and ‘Hell, hell, heeeeell, here I come!!! When you see such people along your route, you just better pull by and let them get on. It is best not to go down with them.

    Reckless, however, is another name for this country right now. I know this point has been flogged again and again by so many writers but it obviously cannot be overstressed. What we have coming from the north is nothing short of recklessness meeting recklessness. Successive government officers have tended over the decades to focus more ardently on the things most beneficial to them such as how much they can stash away from funds meant to ensure that people do not become excluded through excessive poverty or political marginalisation. The result is what we have all been witnessing in the form of the reckless killing and bombing of fellow citizens by boko haram terrorists, and the destruction of future generations of human resources. Unfortunately, the target group of this anger has been fellow innocent people who are victims of the same poverty and exclusion, and are possible future human work forces. Vicious circle, I’ll say, from which relief seemed a mirage until the president gleefully announced during the week that he would lead the country to win that war.

    Now, don’t ask me how the president intends to lead the country ‘cause I honestly don’t know. I say, suppose he dons a military uniform, untrained and peace-loving as he is? Would he hold the bayonet and grenade? Suppose he dons a mufti and goes in as just another undercover agent, gathering information about the lay of the land, the enemy’s armoury, army number, etc.? Suppose, eh, just suppose he dons Superman’s cape and literally flies in and routs the enemy before you can say boko haram? Now, that would be a story worth telling my grandchildren.

    Honestly, as I read that piece of news about the president’s declaration, I immediately felt pride swelling in my heart. Luckily, I was able to quell the tide of swelling before it got to dangerous proportions. I felt that the president was telling the country for the first time that, hey, you people, you do have a president you know, and look, it’s me! Then I thought, just as I’m sure he also thought, what the heck had he been doing all this while? Why wait for thousands of people to lose their lives before making that kind of heartening pronouncement? Why wait till nearly all was lost through bombings, shootings, sackings of villages before donning this Superman’s cape? The president needs to explain that first.

    I’m sure, dear reader, you would want to say let him even win the battle first and leave explanations till later. The trouble is that, you know, there are some among us who like to ask intelligent questions in the heat of the moment. Once, a grandmother had told her grandchild that whenever she was afraid, a good song would drive the fear away. Imagine the consternation of the grandmother when the child wanted to sing in the middle of an attack on the house by armed robbers!

    Well, while Mr. President was undecided on whether or not to don that cape, another enemy has gone and camped round about his territory, and that is the dreaded Ebola virus. This enemy, we understand, takes no prisoners and leaves no quarters. It is so dreaded every country in the world wants to lock their doors against it. It is therefore understandable that everyone in the country is literally up in arms against it.

    First, everyone seems to have agreed that venison, which has been appropriated as ‘the Nigerian delicacy’ and renamed ‘bush-meat’, is no longer as innocent as it looks. It is now a suspect in the efforts to track down the killer disease. Imagine that: some people are going to starve. Beer is no longer going to flow down the red lane as effortlessly as it used to do when accompanied by dried game. Now, beer has to travel down all by its lonesome self. Not funny.

    There are more suspects. There is the handshake, the universal signal of brotherhood and friendship. We understand that the virus can be transmitted via handshakes. To give someone a handshake is now indeed an enemy action as it is a clear sign of a desire to spread the virus to one’s enemy. Henceforth, at least until further notice, it has been advised that handshakes be forbidden to forestall unintentional adoption of the virus from a host. Now, everyone has to go around greeting with the teeth literally gritted while shaking hands mentally, and everyone literally has to keep his/her hands by his side. A no-handshake policy, indeed, is going to make the world a harder place to live in; as if things were not bad enough.

    Worse, people are now even scared to visit their sick friends and relatives, and I think that is the unkindest cut of all. Just try and think what that is going to do to families. Wives will no longer trust their husbands’ fevers; husbands will not trust their wives’ fevers. For one thing, where did she or he get it from and why should they have to maybe die for the carelessness of the other? That is when we realize the truth: no one wants to die. Then the questions begin: if you were not prepared to die with me, says the offended one, why swear ‘for better, for worse? Then another truth dawns: all that proclamation was just part of the rhetoric of marriage – to persuade.

    Worse, sick relatives are going to take endless umbrages for other relatives who fail to visit them on their beds of languishing. The culmination of it all is that everyone is going to go around suspecting each other’s sickness now. We can however take courage in the fact that there are other ways we can still rely on each other. There is the… and then the… Oh you! I bet you were already imagining something unsavory when all I am talking about is the phone. Yes, the phone will now become the all-important focus for family gatherings.

    This is why I started this essay by saying that a man should not have too many enemies to fight. The president has his own personal battles which no one can help him with, what with 2015 and all. However, there is no doubt that he needs to don more than one uniform to fight ours. Just as soon as he is through leading the country against the terror war in Superman’s cape, he needs to put on his Sherlock Holmes coat, hat and smoking pipe and track down this dreaded disease.

  • Bayelsa educates residents on Ebola virus, Hepatitis

    Bayelsa educates residents on Ebola virus, Hepatitis

    Bayelsa State Government on Friday commenced an enlightenment campaign on Ebola virus and hepatitis, as part of it efforts to checkmate the diseases.

    The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Ayibatonye Owei, told newsmen in Yenagoa that members of the public should be cautious on the state of the foods they eat.

    He said being sensitive to such things would go a long way to prevent infections from the two killer ailments.

    “I call on all people of Bayelsa to take all necessary precautions against Ebola virus and hepatitis.

    “This campaign will reach out to every nook and cranny of the state; we have jingles on radio and television; so, make good use of it.

    “And you must know that Hepatitis-B is a silent killer; the diseases caused by Hepatitis-B can be prevented by vaccination.

    “Immunisation has gone over 80 per cent in the state on Hepatitis and all the eight local government areas are benefiting,” Owei said.

    Owei commended the organisers of the 2014 World Hepatitis Day in Bayelsa, adding that the theme “Hepatitis: Think Again”, was a wakeup call to control the disease.

    “Hepatitis vaccination is free for everybody; go to any health centre and immunise yourself; all beneficiaries should ensure that they receive the required three doses for complete protection.

    “Ebola has also become a threat to the society; I urge Bayelsans to also inculcate a good washing hygiene of hand, cloths, body and maintain cleaner environment.

    “Everything you do, make sure you wash your hand, avoid using needle or razor blade used by another person,’’ Owei said.

    The commissioner said the state government had placed the health sector on priority list to achieve standard health care delivery system for the people.

    He said that work was ongoing in all the referral hospital projects in the eight local councils of the state.

    “I must remind you once again that `health is wealth’ and the best way to empowerment people is to give them good health.”

  • Ebola Virus: Ebonyi LG commences enlightenment campaign

    Ebola Virus: Ebonyi LG commences enlightenment campaign

    •Hunters lament loss of livelihood

    Following growing fears across the country over the deadly Ebola Virus, Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, yesterday advised the people of the area to be wary of the deadly disease.

    The council area, which is also the hometown of the Minister for Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, also cautioned against indiscriminate consumption of bush meat by the people.

    The advice was contained in a release signed by the Public Relations Officer of the council, Sir Emmanuel Irem.

    It also advised the people to maintain a clean environment and to avoid contact with some bush meats, especially monkeys, so as not to contact the Ebola disease.

    “We wish to advise the people of Afikpo North Local Government Area to be wary of the deadly Ebola Virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports have it that the virus has killed many people in recent time.

    “It is important that people of the area maintain a clean environment and to avoid contact with some bush meat, especially monkeys species so as not to contact the Ebola disease. The disease, as of now, has no cure and is more deadly than the HIV/AIDS scourge.”

    He further stated that the Ebola disease is transmitted through close contact with the blood, secretion, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

    Our correspondent gathered that there have been growing fears in the state, especially, Amasiri in Afikpo North Local Government Area, where their major occupation and source of revenue is hunting and selling of bush meat and other wild animals.

    Similarly, the council has also advised the people of the area to effectively participate in the forthcoming Independent National Electoral Commissions INEC voters’ registration exercise and issuance of permanent voters cards billed to commence on August 15th 2014.

    The PRO urged all eligible and qualified people of the council to turn out en-mass for the exercise, noting that the voters’ cards would afford them the opportunity to vote in the 2015 general elections and other elections.

    He warned against multiple registration and urged parents to restrain their children below 18 years from registering, describing it as a criminal offence.

  • Ebola…The disease named after a Congolese river

    Ebola…The disease named after a Congolese river

    Since a Liberian died in Lagos last week of Ebola virus, the country has been on edge with health authorities running helter-skelter. Africa Check offers insight into this disease named after a river

    In February 2014, an outbreak of the Ebola virus was identified in the south-eastern forests of Guinea, the first time the virus had been recorded in the West African state. By March, it had spread from Macenta, Gueckedou and Kissidougou to the capital Conakry. By April, cases had been confirmed in a further two districts – Dabola and Djingaraye – and in neighbouring Liberia.

    The disease has since advanced to the capitals of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and it has killed two doctors, Dr Samuel Brisbane from Liberia and a Ugandan, with two more being seriously ill.

    Now Nigerian officials are racing to prevent an outbreak in Africa’s largest city after a Liberian man died in Lagos shortly after arriving at the airport last Tuesday. All its entry points were put on red alert.

    Médicins sans Frontières has called this outbreak – the world’s largest recorded to date – “unprecedented”, due to its broad geographic spread. The World Health Organization (WHO) have recorded 1,201 cases attributed to the Ebola virus up to last week, including 672 deaths.

    Ebola is a terrifying phenomenon: it kills up to 90% of infected people; death can occur in as little as a week; and, prior to death, patients may haemorrhage, bleeding internally and externally. There is no vaccination and there is no cure.

     

    The origins of Ebola

     

    The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the disease claimed its first known victims in 1976.  A separate strain broke out simultaneously in Nzara, Sudan.

    Unlike bacteria, which are single-celled organisms that multiply by dividing themselves, viruses require hosts to replicate: they take over living cells and then force the infected cells to reproduce the virus. While bacteria can be combated with antibiotics, the same is not true of viruses.

    Ebola is a ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus and multiplies particularly rapidly in its host creating a high pathogen dose. The science writer David Quammen, who has investigated the origins and spread of the virus,  writes that “[RNA viruses] produce acute infections, severe for a short time and then gone. Either they soon disappear or they kill you.”

    In the process,  “sneezing, or coughing or vomiting or bleeding or diarrhoea … facilitates transmission to other victims”.

    There are five known species of Ebola virus: Bundibugyo ebolavirus; Zaire ebolavirus; Reston ebolavirus; Sudan ebolavirus; and Taï Forest ebolavirus. All but the Reston strain can be fatal to humans and all but the Reston strain are found in Africa.

    Until recently, the Zaire strain of Ebola was thought to be behind the current outbreak, with the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) noting a 98% match between the West African and Zaire strains. The Zaire strain of Ebola is the most deadly: it attacks all organs in the body, including the skin, and can have a fatality rate of up to 90%. Since its first appearance – and excluding the current outbreak in West Africa – the strain has killed 1,098 of the 1,388 people it has infected, an average case fatality rate of 79%.

    However, a team of experts studying the West African strain reported in the New England Journal of Medicine recently that the Guinea outbreak is a new strain of the virus: though closely related to Zaire ebolavirus, the current strain is endemic to West Africa and developed parallel to the central African ebolavirus strain. According to the team’s investigation, the strain’s outbreak can be traced to the death of a two-year-old child in Gueckedou on December 6 last year.

     

    How is Ebola transmitted?

     

    Ebola is thought to be a zoonotic or animal-borne virus. The virus survives in a “reservoir” host – an animal or insect that carries the virus at no cost to itself – and is passed on to other animals or humans through contact with the bodily fluids, secretions or organs of the host animal.

    Though it has not been conclusively proved, the fruit bat (Pteropodidae) is considered to be the natural host or “reservoir” of the ebola virus. The exact manner in which Ebola enters human cells remains a mystery. Transmission to humans and primates is thought to occur through direct contact with the animal host, or through contact or consumption of the meat, bodily fluids or secretions of animals that have become infected by contact with the host. Guinea is a known wildlife trafficking hub and last month, the country’s government issued a warning to citizens to avoid eating traditional bushmeat dishes.

    Once it has presented in humans, Ebola is transmitted through direct contact, where broken skin or mucous membranes come into contact with the blood or secretions of the infected person. It may also be transmitted indirectly “through exposure to objects (such as needles) that have been contaminated with infected secretions”, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. This means that healthcare workers and family and friends of those infected with the virus are at a higher risk of infection.

     

    What does the virus do?

     

    The Ebola virus causes a viral haemorrhagic fever, a set of severe illnesses that are “multisystem” in that they affect various of the body’s regulatory systems. These viral diseases damage the circulatory system and may be accompanied by bleeding or haemorrhaging.

    According to the WHO, patients will begin to show symptoms anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure to the virus, mostly between days eight and 10. Patients present with fever, weakness, muscular pain, headaches and sore throat. The generality of the symptoms at this stage makes it difficult to distinguish Ebola from various other diseases, including malaria, typhoid fever, meningitis or cholera.

    As the disease develops, Ebola sufferers may experience vomiting, diarrhoea, a red rash, difficulty in breathing and swallowing. The virus severely compromises the immune system, and affects liver, kidney and respiratory function, as well as the skin and blood. Blood clots may form and patients may experience haemorrhaging, bleeding internally and externally.

     

    Treating Ebola

     

    There is no vaccine or cure for the Ebola virus, though several vaccinations are currently being tested. According to the US CDC, treatment is thus limited and merely supportive of the body’s immune function: providing fluids, electrolytes and oxygen; keeping blood pressure constant; and treating additional infections with antibiotics.

    It is unclear why some people infected with the virus survive where so many do not, but it is thought to relate to the strength of the individual’s immune system, the strain of the virus and the viral dose the person has been exposed to.

    In addition to supportive and symptomatic treatment, health workers can only really control the spread of the virus: isolating those infected, raising awareness of the virus and how it is spread in affected communities, ensuring appropriate protective gear is worn by all in contact with Ebola sufferers and ensuring the quick and safe burial of those who have succumbed.

     

  • Ebola virus victim dies

    A Liberian identified as Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who came to Lagos aboard a flight from Monrovia on Sunday and suspected to have the deadly Ebola virus is dead.

    Although there is no official confirmation on the development, our reporter gathered that Sawyer died on Thursday at an undisclosed hospital in the state where he was receiving treatment.

    He was reportedly on admission in the hospital and placed on intensive treatment since Sunday.

    A medical scientist told journalists that, “The Liberian was initially responding to treatment, but plans were made to fly him back to his country when the situation worsened.”

    When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, who was seen holding book on standard medical procedure for Ebola epidemic declined comment on the victim’s death, saying she was heading for a meeting on the issue.

    Adesina had on Thursday alerted residents of the state about the discovery, assuring that the state government has taken proactive steps to handle its spread.

     

  • NMA partners Lagos to prevent Ebola outbreak

    The Nigeria Medical Association, Lagos Chapter, on Friday said it will partner the Lagos State government to prevent outbreak of Ebola Virus in the state.

    A Liberian was tested for the virus on Thursday, the state ministry of health said.

    The NMA Chairman, Dr. Tayo Ojo, made this known at the inaugural briefing of the newly elected executives of the association in Lagos.

    This effort, he said followed the case of the Liberian, which was reported by the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina on Thursday.

    Ojo said the preliminary investigation was pointing in the direction of Ebola Virus disease.

    “As a medical association, we are primary custodian of heath issues and we shall partner with the government prevent an outbreak of the disease, “he said.

    He advised the public to imbibe environmental and personal hygiene culture to ward off the outbreak.

    On the ongoing NMA strike which commenced on July 1, Ojo said this was not in any way related to additional wage demand, rather to draw the Federal Government’s attention to the problems in the sector.

     

  • Liberian tested for Ebola in Lagos

    A Liberian man in his 40s was on Thursday tested for the deadly Ebola virus in Lagos, the state Health Ministry said.

    Reuters says Ebola has killed 632 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February, straining a string of weak health systems despite international help.

    This would be the first recorded case of one of the world’s deadliest diseases in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation, with 170 million people and some of Africa’s least adequate health infrastructure.

     

  • WHO convenes emergency Ebola meeting

    Health ministers from 11 African countries are meeting in Accra, Ghana, in an attempt to “get a grip” on the deadly and worsening Ebola outbreak, the BBC reports.

    So far, 763 people have been infected with the virus – and 468 of these have died.

    Most of the cases have been in Guinea where the outbreak started.

    But it has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone and is now the biggest and most deadly Ebola outbreak the world has seen, say officials.

    Health officials from those countries, as well as Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, and Uganda will attend the meeting.

    The World Health Organization said “drastic” action is needed to stamp out the virus and ensure it does not spread to other countries in the region.

    “We’re hoping to take decisions about how to enhance collaboration and responses [of these countries] so we can get a grip and halt this outbreak,” said WHO spokesman Daniel Epstein

    “We need a strong response, especially along the shared border areas where commercial and social activities continue between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That’s unlikely to stop,” he stated.