The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ebola

  • Ebola: WHO withdraws staff from Sierra Leonean laboratory

    The World Health Organization has withdrawn staff from Ebola laboratory at Kailahun in eastern Sierra Leone after one of its medical workers there was infected during the worst ever outbreak of the disease, a WHO spokesperson said.

    “It’s a temporary measure to take care of the welfare of our remaining workers,” WHO spokesperson, Christy Feig told Reuters. “After our assessment, they will return.”

    The WHO has sent nearly 400 people from its own staff and partner organisations to fight the outbreak in West Africa.

    It said on Sunday that a foreign health worker it had deployed in Sierra Leone had been infected.

  • Of Ebola and bush meat

    SIR: Up to the first week of August when I left Ghana, that country did not have any Ebola victim, while one or two cases had been established in Nigeria. Yet, too many Ghanaians stopped buying bush meat, because of the claim that Ebola derived from bush animals, with specific reference to bats and monkeys. People who specialized in bush meat trade complained of terribly low patronage and losses. The same outcry was witnessed about three days ago in Ilorin, Kwara State where I reside.

    Even if it were true that Ebola derived from bush animals, we still need to know how that came about. Did it happen through eating killed and roasted/cooked bush animals? I eat monkeys and bats killed in forest, and many other bush animals, including certain species of snakes. As I write this article, some people are hunting, killing and eating bush animals in many Ghanaian and Nigerian villages and farm settlements, without any Ebola crisis in their midst.

    Let’s ask some searching questions, following the premise that people were eating bush meat before the Ebola outbreak. Why is it that none of such persons in Ghana, Togo, Republic de Benin, and many parts of Nigeria, is suffering from Ebola, except as spread by people from Liberia, etc?

    Why should we entertain fear about bush meat when eating it has not been found to be the cause of Ebola, and very many West Africans live on bush meat in our villages, farm settlements, and hunters’ camps up till date? Yes, the rumour will preserve wild animal life, but impoverish those who depend on bush meat as hunters, traders, and consumers alike.

    In Ghana, Nigeria, and other African (or West African) countries, cows are not different from bush animals, because they are reared in the bush.  Beyond that, given the conditions under which the Ebola organism survives, it is impossible to contract it through a well cooked or roasted bush meat. And so, bush meat is safe, yesterday and today. Why do too many Africans live by emotion, rather than scientific evidence and/or philosophical analysis? They would condemn homosexuals because a holy book says this or that, rather than finding out what is true according to nature and actual reality. They would carry religious sentiments to the academic arena and confuse facts and figures with monumental historical prejudices.

    Who spread the falsehood that African traditional medicine has no measurement? Why do Africans demonize their precious ancestral heritages? A competent African traditional medical doctor knows the effect of every ingredient in a traditional medicine. Eschew prejudice. Critically examine every claim. Those who claim to be African “leaders” are mostly African destroyers. Isn’t it?

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, PhD,

    University of Ilorin.

     

     

  • Hospital to treat fever, others as suspected Ebola cases

    To prevent the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from hitting River State, patients will  be treated as potential cases of the disease.

    At a sensitisation workshop in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) said everything was being done to ensure Ebola did not get into the state.

    The workshop was organised in collaboration with UPTH Hospital’s Infection Awareness Committee (HIAC). The event was to educate health workers on the need to be alert in handling patients as potential carriers of Ebola virus.

    UPTH Chief Medical Director (CMD) Prof Aaron Ojule, said the decision was in line with the Federal Government’s declaration of a state of emergency on Ebola virus.

    The move, he noted, would assist the hospital to be alert to prevent further spread of the disease.

    The hospital, he said must  prepare to contain Ebola by raising awreness among its workers because they are more susceptible to the disease.

    Ojule warned health workers and residents to be on alert to identify any suspected cases especially within their environment.

    “We must protect ourselves; at the same time we don’t pray that any case should come but what if it comes, the doctors and nurses must be prepared. We must see every patient as a potential suspect. And our work ethics must change especially the laboratory staff.

    “I’m happy we have many of the hospital staff at the workshop, because we are the greatest risk of occupational hazard.  We are working with both the state and Federal Government to see how we can contain the epidemic.”

    The hospital, he said, is working hard to improve its diagnostic capability and create more awareness on the deadly virus in various places of the state.

    “We must protect ourselves. The health workers will be deployed in rural communities where they will disseminate the information to prevent the disease from affecting our people,” Ojule said.

  • Youths barricade quarantine centre

    Youths in Emohua, Rivers State, barricaded yesterday the quarantine centre set up by the government to treat any case of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    Although there is no EVD case in the state, Commissioner for Health Samson Parker said the government does not want to be caught unawares.

    The youths barricaded the centre with palm fronds, expressing fear that the community could be exposed to the virus.

    One of them said: “We all know that Ebola has not come to Rivers State and we are praying fervently that it does not come. However, we are worried that the government has chosen to locate the quarantine centre in our community. We are afraid. We hope the government will understand our plight.”

  • Ebola: FRSC distributes protective gears to officers

    THe Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has provided its officers with protective tools to protect them from the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    Corps Marshal and Chief Executive Boboye Oyeyemi who stated this in Abuja, said such measures were aimed at protecting them.

    He said protective tools such as sanitisers, gloves, nose guards, clinic gowns and others were provided for the officers because they are usually in contact with people in the course of their duty.

    Oyeyemi, who spoke at a strategic session with commanding officers at the COMASE Training Hall of FRSC, said: “The Corps’ operatives are in constant contact with victims of road crashes. We equally provide medical services to members of the public at all our road side clinics on strategic highways; hence the need to provide these gears for our men in order to safe guard them from unforeseen circumstances especially the raging Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).”

    Oyeyemi said the training and strategic session was informed by the need for the Corps to appraise and strengthen its policies as the countdown to the end of 2014 begins. He said the session is a platform to evaluate the Corps’ projections and activities to achieve set goals.

    “We are looking to further strengthen our policies that we have been working on. And as we are moving towards the end of the year, there is need for us to appraise the level of patrol operations and the crashes, to be able to take important policy decisions so as to move forward to achieve the goals set for the year. In addition, we are aware of the risk our personnel are involved in both in office and especially during rescue operations on the highway. The essence of this is safeguarding our personnel against contracting the Ebola virus while on duty.”

    The management would be providing the necessary tools such as sanitisers, the gloves, the gabs, everything required. And also our clinics especially the roadside clinics we have already provided protective gabs for them so that when they have contact with members of the public they are protected, because during rescue operations, during removal of obstructions we do have contacts with other people so we must ensure that we protect our personnel which is critical,” he said.

  • Nigeria,US and trial drug for Ebola

    The use of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) trial drugs, Zmapp in the United States of America (USA) gave many Nigerians a ray of hope against the deadly disease which  the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer brought into Nigeria in July.

    Currently, there is no vaccine against the disease that has claimed the lives of over 1,300 persons in the West African sub-region.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved untested drugs to be administered as research work continues towards finding a cure to the disease.

    Two United States aid workers, Nancy Writebol and Dr Kent Brantly, who were infected with the virus while in Liberia, had responded positively to Zmapp in Atlanta.

    While Writebol was discharged on Tuesday, Dr Brantly was discharged few hours later.

    Dr. Brantly, who was brought to the US along with his colleagues for treatment four weeks ago, thanked supporters for their prayers at a news conference in Atlanta last week.

    Even though the Zmapp trial drug that worked wonders in the two Americans had never been tested on humans, it was not the same story for a Spanish Priest who was given the same drug but died from the disease.

    Three Liberian health workers, also given the drugs, are said to be responding to treatment, as the Liberian Ministry of Health declared last week that they have shown “very positive signs of recovery”.

    To stop those infected in Nigeria from death, the Nigerian government did not waste time to request for Zmapp as some Nigerians who had primary and secondary contact with the late Sawyer were falling ill.

    The request for the trial drugs had not been met even though five persons, including Sawyer, as at last Wednesday, have died from the disease in Nigeria.

    During a visit to the Nigerian Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu on Monday last week, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, said his country was not yet in a position to make Zmapp available to Nigeria as the drug was not available in sufficient quantity to go round all the countries requesting for it.

    While some Nigerians were not happy that the drug, rather than coming to Nigeria, was given for the treatment of some health workers in Liberia, some other Nigerians believed that the US should not be blamed if it is still more attached to its former colony.

    Speaking during the US Ambassador’s visit, Prof. Chukwu revealed that the Nigerian Government was withholding its approval for an anti-Ebola drug Nano-Silver produced by a Nigerian because it did not meet the requirements of the National Health Research Ethics Code.

    Briefing State House correspondents early this month on bitter cola as a cure for the disease, Prof. Chukwu said: “As the Minister of Health of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I say that right now, there is no scientific proof to suggest that if you just eat bitter kola you will prevent the disease or where you have it, it will help to cure it.

    “However, we are aware that in 1999, Prof. Maurice Iwu worked along with an administration in United States of America and conducted research which at the level of the laboratory …

    “This shows that some extract they had obtained from the bitter cola which is common in West Africa and in Nigeria …. tend to have some activities against the virus. But that research was not concluded and therefore, as at today, there is no evidence to link that as a cure or preventive measure against Ebola Virus Disease.”

    But some Nigerians have continued to wonder why Nigeria has not pushed forward the Iwu’s research work further since 1999 as it won’t be a curse if Nigeria is involved with the international community to develop a drug and come to the aid of other West African countries that are suffering from the disease.

    To tackle Ebola, Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Prof. Karniyus S. Gamaniel has called for urgent upgrade of its laboratory towards researching and producing necessary drugs to cope with the threat of the virus.

    He said: “Our laboratories need a little upgrading with facilities like the P4 bio-safety cabinet which will make the laboratory very competent and very useful, and we insist that the situation is an emergency given the position of Abuja as a centrally-placed city.

    “Ebola is a deadly pathogen and the facilities we have needed to be upgraded. We don’t have the P4 facility but we have a structured laboratory suitable for handling the virus and the various studies that are relevant.”

    No doubt, Nigeria has been commended for properly tracing and containing the disease since the virus found its way to Nigeria through Mr. Sawyer, but more needs to be done towards finding a cure in Nigeria.

    Bitter cola, which is abundantly available in Nigeria and has been said to be very active in killing the virus, may be the major ingredient needed to find a cure for the disease in human beings.

    Nigeria should get its act together now and give those concerned with finding a cure in Nigeria, especially NIPRD and other researchers, genuine supports in all ramifications.

    The era must be brought to an end where Nigeria richly blessed with fruits, food crops and other resources like oranges, mango, potatoes, palm trees, oil and petroleum resources continue to import processed fruit juice, palm oil, vegetable oil, potato chips and refined petroleum products.

    Even though some of the items are on the prohibition list of the Nigeria Customs Service, they still find their way into the country.

    The reversal of the trend should be the case now not only for the economic and financial benefit to Nigeria as a country but also to provide the needed jobs for the large unemployed youths in the country.

  • Ebola: NLC bars nine countries from conference

    Ebola: NLC bars nine countries from conference

    The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has written a letter asking delegates from nine countries where there have been outbreak of the Ebola Virus to stay away from its 12th NLC Rain School 2014 holding in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State.

    Adhering  to the restriction notice, nine countries including Liberia, South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, and others were conspicuously absent from the conference.

    NLC President, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar, disclosed this in his opening remarks at the conference on Monday.

    He said the congress barred the delegates from the affected countries from attending the conference to prevent the spread of the virus.

    The theme of the conference is – “Inequality and Socio-Political Instability: Issues and Challenges for the Working Class”

    He said the NLC took the decision because the presence of nationals from the countries would have scared other participants away from the conference.

    The Nation learnt that the only delegate that attended the conference from Ghana, Gladys Osuma, was certified Ebola free.

    Omar said, “It is very unique because I thought for the first time we are holding the school with people only from Nigeria. But we are happy we are able to get our sister from Ghana. Although most of the time you cannot even differentiate Nigeria and Ghana except that there are two countries in between us.

    “But you know for obvious reason why it is only one person from Ghana who is here today; that is because of the unfortunate incident of the Ebola Virus. And some countries are making efforts to ensure that people outside will not come either to import or may not come to export this very dreaded disease.

    “That is why we wrote to quite a number of these countries particularly Sierra-Leone, Liberia, and even South Africa and so on explaining reasons why they should please help us by staying back because we wouldn’t want to bring people to scare the larger people here.

    “This is bcause when you hear that somebody from Liberia is here all of you will stay away.  We asked them to stay back. But I am very happy that our sister from Ghana is hale and hearty and she will also go back hale and hearty.”

     

  • Liberian doctor dies of Ebola

    One of three African doctors infected with Ebola and treated with the experimental drug ZMapp has died in Monrovia, Liberia’s Information Minister, Lewis Brown, said on Monday.

    Asked to confirm the death of doctor Abraham Borbor, Brown said: “That is correct. He died yesterday.”

    Reuters reports that the hemorrhagic fever has killed at least 1,427 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and neighbouring Guinea, the deadliest outbreak of the disease to date.

    The disease also has a toehold in Nigeria, where it has killed five people.

  • Ebola: Briton begins treatment in London hospital

    Doctors at a hospital in north-west London have begun treating a Briton who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, the BBC reports.

    The man has been named as William Pooley, a 29-year-old volunteer nurse, by a United States’ scientist who worked with him.

    Mr. Pooley was flown to RAF Northolt in a specially equipped military aircraft on Sunday and taken under police escort to Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital.

    He volunteered to go to West Africa to care for victims of the Ebola outbreak which has killed almost 1,500 people.

    It is the first confirmed case of a Briton contracting the virus during the current outbreak.

    Mr. Pooley, believed to be from Woodbridge in Suffolk, was flown out of Sierra Leone’s main airport in Lungi, in a RAF C-17 transport aircraft.

    He will be treated in a specialist isolation unit for patients with highly infectious disease, the only one of its kind in Europe.

    A special tent ensures medical staff can interact with the patient but are separated by plastic and rubber.

    Mr. Pooley was described by a colleague in Kenema district, Robert F Garry, as a “remarkable young man and a natural leader.”

    There is no cure for Ebola but with treatment of the symptoms, and proper hydration, patients have a chance of survival.

  • UK flies home national who contracts Ebola in Sierra Leone

    UK flies home national who contracts Ebola in Sierra Leone

    British national living in Sierra Leone has tested positive for Ebola, the first Briton to fall victim to the deadly disease that has spread across the West African region since March, the Department of Health said on Saturday.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the current Ebola epidemic – the world’s worst ever with 1,427 documented deaths – will likely take six to nine months to halt.

    Some aid organisations, including medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, have warned that the outbreak, which began in Guinea before spreading to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria, is now out of control.

    The WHO conceded on Friday that the hiding of victims and the existence of “shadow zones” where medics cannot go has concealed the true scale of the epidemic.

    Britain’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer John Watson confirmed a British national was among those suffering from Ebola and said medical experts were assessing the situation in Sierra Leone to ensure appropriate care was provided.

    “The overall risk to the public in the UK continues to be very low,” Watson said in a statement.

    No further details about the British national were immediately available, and it was not known whether there were plans to evacuate the patient.

    Ebola, which is passed on by direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected persons, strikes hardest at healthcare providers and caregivers who work closely with those infected. And dozens of local doctors and nurses have died from the virus in recent months.

    Two American aid workers, who contracted Ebola in neighboring Liberia and were then evacuated, recovered from the disease and were released from a hospital in the United States earlier this week.

    Fear, stigma and denial have led many families to hide their infected loved ones from health officials. In other instances, patients have been forcibly removed from treatment facilities and isolation centers, creating the risk of the disease’s further spread.

    Under-reporting of Ebola cases has been a problem, particularly in Liberia and Sierra Leone, currently the two countries hardest hit by the virus.

    Lawmakers in Sierra Leone on Friday voted overwhelmingly in favor of making the harboring of those infected with Ebola a crime carrying a punishment of two years in prison.

    “The new regulation will provide for summary trial, meaning trial by a magistrate court alone,” Justice Minister Frank Kargbo told Reuters.

     

    As the outbreak has spread across borders from its initial epicenter, governments in the region have introduced increasingly strict travel restrictions.

    The government of Ivory Coast announced late on Friday that it had closed its land borders Guinea and Liberia to try to prevent the virus from crossing onto its territory.

    Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy and the world’s top cocoa producer, had previously imposed a ban on flights to and from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

    Liberia’s Nimba County, which shares a border with Ivory Coast, has seen the number of Ebola cases balloon in recent weeks. According to Moses Massaquoi, the head of Ebola case management at Liberia’s health ministry, 65 cases including 25 confirmed patients have now been reported there.

    “The number of cases in Nimba has spiked recently and it is now an area of concern,” Massaquoi told Reuters.

    The WHO does not recommend travel or trade restrictions for countries affected by Ebola, saying such measures could heighten food and supply shortages. But residents of Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan voiced support for the government’s decision.

    “I don’t think simply closing the border is enough. We need to go even further,” said Romaric Kouadio, a laboratory technician.

     

    The Philippines on Saturday ordered 115 soldiers to return home from peacekeeping operations in Liberia due to the outbreak there.

    Brussels Airlines, Belgium’s largest carrier, said on Saturday it was cancelling flights to the capitals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone for Sunday and Monday due to new restrictions put in place by Senegal’s aviation authority.

    The company’s flight to Freetown on Friday was denied permission to land for a crew change at the airport in Senegal’s capital Dakar, and the plane was forced to continue on to Casablanca for an unscheduled landing.

    Senegal, West Africa’s humanitarian hub, had announced earlier in the day that it was banning all flights to and from countries affected by Ebola. It also blocked a U.N. aid plane from landing in Dakar.

    “We cannot fly like that. It is pretty dangerous,” Paul Delafaille, Brussels Airlines’ country manager in Sierra Leone, told Reuters.

    A spokesman for the airline, in which Germany’s Lufthansa owns a 45 percent stake, said it was exploring options that would allow it to resume service to the three countries.