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Tag: Patrick Sawyer

  • No new cases of Ebola in Nigeria, says Health Minister

    No new cases of Ebola in Nigeria, says Health Minister

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has debunked the rumours making the rounds that there is a fresh outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.

    He spoke yesterday at a news conference on the update on the virus.

    Chukwu said the information was untrue.

    He said besides the cases in Lagos and Port Harcourt, there were no other cases.

    According to him, at the moment, only one person, the wife of a Port Harcourt doctor, is on treatment in an isolation ward in Lagos.

    The minister went on: “She no longer shows any symptom and is undergoing tests, preparatory to her discharge this week.

    Seven people have died from the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, including Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the virus into the country.”

    He said another patient was discharged on Sunday. The patient, according to him, is the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor, Iyke Enemuo.

    His words: “It has been 50 days since the Ebola Virus Disease was brought into the country through Lagos and 38 days since it was brought to Port Harcourt.

    “So far, all the cases confirmed in the country are traceable to the index case, the Liberian-American, Mr. Patrick Sawyer.

    “As at this morning, the number of confirmed cases of EVD in the country is 19, 15 in Lagos and four in Port Harcourt.

    “The 19th case is the fiancé of one of the primary contacts of Mr. Sawyer. The test results were equivocal but further tests established the disease. He had only mild symptoms and had  recovered. He was quarantined but because of the equivocal test result, he was not placed on active treatment.

    “The total number of deaths from EVD stands at seven. Five of this died in Lagos, one in a private hospital, the index case Mr. Sawyer, and the other four in the isolation ward in Lagos.

    Two of the seven died in Port Harcourt, the medical doctor, who died in a private hospital and the contact, a patient in the hospital at the time the doctor was also on admission, who died in the isolation ward in Rivers State.

    “The total number of patients, who have been successfully managed and discharged, stands at nine.

    “The latest is the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor, who was discharged from the isolation ward yesterday. The nine patients successfully managed and discharged are among the total number of 11 survivors of EVD in the country.

    “At the moment, only one person, the wife of the Port Harcourt doctor, is on treatment in the isolation ward in Lagos. She no longer has any symptom and is undergoing tests, preparatory to her discharge from the isolation ward this week.

    “Regarding contacts under surveillance, Lagos has 27 contacts surveillance. Three hundred and thirty-nine contacts, who were on surveillance, have been discharged, having completed 21 days of observation.

    Port Harcourt has 477 contacts under surveillance. It is a mixed group consisting of tertiary and quaternary contacts of Mr. Sawyer. Five contacts have been discharged from surveillance in Port Harcourt, having completed 21 days of observation.”

    The minister said ambulances, motorcycles and medical equipment have been distributed to Port Harcourt, to curb the spread of the Ebola virus.

    He said: “In the last one week, a number of EVD rumours have been investigated and the cases have turned out to be Ebola negative. Specifically, the rumours in Kebbi, Kaduna, Lagos, Lagos, Oyo, Ebonyi, Delta and Sokoto states as well as the Federal Capital Territory have been debunked.”

    Chukwu took the opportunity to clarify that the United States made a pledge of 30 body scanners in error.

    He said: “What the US donated were 30 handheld infra-red thermometers, which have been put to service.”

    The Health Minister, who warned against the stigmatisation of patients, assured that the country’s medical team had the expertise to manage the virus.

    Said he: “We urge countries and individuals not to profile or stigmatise anyone on account of EVD. We have observed that some countries have selectively quarantined Nigerian travellers without any health or scientific basis. Let me say clearly that while any individual from any country can be a carrier of the EVD and transmit same to others, no Nigerian has introduced EVD to any country. “Nigeria will support the protocols approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which does not support the closure of borders, does not restrict travels and does not stigmatise anyone on the basis of the passport one carries.”

     

  • NMA raises fresh alarm on Ebola

    NMA raises fresh alarm on Ebola

    •Urges policing of borders, ports

    The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has cried out on the ill-preparedness of states to prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    It said the essential structures and framework to contain the outbreak of the disease on a national scale were yet to be in place, particularly at the state and local government levels.

    NMA urged the Federal Government to ensure the creation of functional EVD control committees at all levels.

    The association, at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Awka, the Anambra State capital, enjoined the Federal Government to police the borders and ports to avert further spread of the disease.

    A communiqué at the end of the meeting reads: “EVD was imported into the country by the late Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, who travelled by air from Liberia to Lagos on July 20. He was admitted to a Lagos hospital immediately on arrival and died five days later. Since then, there has been local transmission (including cases in healthcare workers), and to date, Nigeria has recorded 15 confirmed cases of EVD, out of which four have died (with a case fatality of 27 per cent), while eight are under treatment.

    “The importation of EVD to Nigeria shows that we are prone and more at a risk as a nation open to diplomatic and international travels. Efforts are required from everybody to contain this epidemic and save the over 170 million Nigerians from the risk of being exposed to this deadly disease.

    “NEC stresses the need for all to be on the alert following the danger posed by Ebola and advises the Federal Government to police the borders and ports to avert further spread of the disease.

    “NEC hails the efforts of the federal and Lagos State governments in containing the spread of EVD, and attempts at establishing isolation centres in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). However, it was observed that the structures and framework for containing the outbreak on a national scale are yet to be in place, particularly at the state and local government levels. NEC, therefore, calls on the Federal Government to ensure the creation of functional EVD control committees at all levels.

    “NMA remains committed to the health of Nigerians, and is ready to work with governments and its agencies with the aim of joining forces and developing strategic actions to prevent the introduction and/or spread of EVD in other parts of the country. NMA has put in place a National EVD Response Committee headed by a renowned Public Health Physician, Prof. Michael Asuzu, and similar committees at the state level. The NMA has mandated these committees to liaise with their government counterparts to synergise their responses for the containment and treatment of any outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.

    “NMA enjoins Nigerians, especially those in the “at-risk” states and in other states not to panic but rather keep safe by seeking best practices, collaboration and advocacy about what constitutes the risks and sources of contracting EVD. NMA is developing useful educational documents to inform and guide healthcare workers and the public regarding EVD. These will be made available to the public as soon as they are ready.

    “NEC praises President Goodluck Jonathan for the Federal Government’s N1.9 billion Ebola intervention plan, and Aliko Dangote, for the donation of N152, 956, 250.00 for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos, in an effort to control and halt the spread of the deadly contagious EVD.”

     

    “NMA also urges states and local governments as well as individuals to make similar financial commitments to ensure the availability of essential materials and smooth logistic operations. NEC is concerned that many states are yet to establish reliable isolation facilities and proper ambulance vehicles for conveying suspected patients to the isolation facilities and the unavailability of personal protective equipment (PPE) in quantities that can guarantee their use at all times as indicated.”

     

     

  • From Boko Haram to Ebola

    From Boko Haram to Ebola

    Even if millions die, should that stop the President’s campaign train? Go on, TAN

    Just as we were celebrating our containment of Ebola, and as if to make nonsense of that celebration, a fresh Ebola case was detected in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Thursday. I had wanted to caution that we should not dance ourselves lame on Ebola yet when our health minister, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, said last week that we had contained the disease. But then, one could have been branded as unpatriotic. With the Port Harcourt discovery, it simply means we still have a lot to do to keep Ebola at bay.

    Indeed, Nigeria has not been at ease since Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the American-Liberian imported the disease into the country on July 20. In fairness to the Federal Government, its response and collaboration with the Lagos State government since July 20 have been impressive. This has, as it were, almost obliterated the fact that its agencies at the airport had been lax in their duties, hence Mr. Sawyer’s ability to beat the security checks there.

    Well, as some would argue, such collaboration is the most sensible thing to do where Ebola is concerned. This is a different ballgame from the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Yes, Ebola, like AIDS does not respect party affiliation. It is no respecter of whether you are progressive or conservative. It does not recognise boundary, be it religious, social, economic or geographical. Like AIDS, Ebola has no known cure. With AIDS, one can take all the precautionary measures: buy your barbing kits to avoid using general clippers, avoid using the same injection or syringe with someone carrying the AIDS virus; don’t take blood transfusion indiscriminately, above all, avoid the ‘danger down below’, zip up.

    Even where all these fail, AIDS could still be somewhat managed. But not so with Ebola. So far, there is no known cure for it. Anyone struck by it could jolly well start singing the Nunc Dimittis, or its other version, ‘Oh Lord, I am coming home’. That is how bad things are. So, even when one is crying, he should still be clear-headed as to keep his eyes wide open. Even where political party or ideology differs, that should not preclude collaboration to ward off the Ebola.

    It seems to me that with Ebola, God does not need to take any trouble of using either fire or flood to bring the world to an end again if He so desires today. Some 5,000 Ebola patients would do the job. Imagine what would have been our fate in Nigeria had Sawyer been allowed to escape into thin air as he had wanted to, even after having been taken to First Consultants Hospital in the Obalende area of Lagos? Not even Donatus could have been as generous as he would have generously distributed the virus in the country, such that even the Boko Haram terrorists would have seen how little their bombs and other armaments that they had hitherto relied on as weapons of mass destruction could be.

    Nigeria had been dealing with a seemingly intractable blood-letting unleashed by the Boko Haram insurgents before Ebola came. Indeed, since 2009 when Boko Haram began its onslaught on the country, there has been no respite. The insurgents have attacked virtually everywhere one could imagine and even never have imagined, including police and military formations. It has sacked entire townships and presently has its flag hoisted in Gwoza, Borno State, where it has also proclaimed a caliphate. More than 12, 000 lives had been lost to the senseless attacks by the terrorists and they do not appear to be done yet. The way they slaughter their victims that they did not bomb suggests they are being propelled by some blood-sucking demons.

    As things stand, the terrorists are still holding captive more than 100 secondary school girls that they abducted in their hostel in Chibok in April. At least twice they have rubbished the ultimatums given by top military chiefs even as they seem on a systematic mission of demystifying the Nigerian military, given the ease with which they stroll into parts of the country, abducting people at will.

    In all of these, one person I do not envy is President Goodluck Jonathan. Indeed, if any man is sitting on a hot seat, President Jonathan is it. So hot is the seat that one would think he should be in a hurry to get out of it. But the most surprising thing is that he is not in a hurry to complete his term and leave. He has been to churches to pray for peace and apparently to seek God’s nod for more years in the rock. And, just in case that fails, he also invited some Senegalese clerics to Aso Rock, in what many have interpreted as a spiritual angle to the current war against Boko Haram. The 10 clerics were led to the State House, Abuja, by Khalifah Sheikh Ahmad Tijani Inyass, the grandson of Late Shehu Tijani Ibrahim Inyass, the founder of the Tijjaniya sect. They met for about an hour with the President at the First Lady’s Conference Room and offered prayers for an end to the security challenges facing Nigeria, as well as for peace and stability in the country.

    Jonathan is not alone in this. As the spokesman of the group, Ahmed Tijani Sanni Alwalu said, “It is a historic visit because it has been done by his father with the then President, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi. So, history is repeating itself and we come for the Moulude of Ibrahim Inyass Gombe and on his way going home, the President requested for a courtesy visit and Shehu granted that.”

    But President Jonathan is yet to complete the ‘tripod’ as he has not called in the African Traditional Religion people for similar prayer. In this wise, one would have thought he would cultivate Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State whose government has embraced the ‘three-in-one’. But he appears to have made Aregbesola a sworn enemy because it was only in Aregbesola’s Osun State that the president did not do well at all in the south west in the 2011 presidential election.  With Aregbe’s election for a second term, that history is set to repeat itself in the state in next year’s general elections, a thing President Jonathan had wished he could nip in the bud, by militarising the state to scare voters in the August 9 governorship election.

    Interestingly, to date, President Jonathan has not indicated his intention to stand for reelection, but his campaign train is already on the track. The most visible one is the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) that has been holding rallies on his behalf, I suspect very much against his will, reminding one of the late General Sani Abacha who never said he wanted to transmute from military to civilian president but everything, including his body language and all, pointed in that direction. With TAN having flagged off the president’s reelection campaign, Nigeria has moved on. What this implies is that that is the end of the search for the Chibok girls; that is if Nigeria ever searched for them. Apparently those who came to help us had to abandon us to our fate when they saw how unserious and unprepared we are in looking for the poor girls. Not many serious countries would want to have anything to do with a country whose soldiers, in the course of ‘tactical manoeuvre’, would stray 80 kilometres into another country in battle! But, wouldn’t it have been better for our military authorities to tell us that in this season of defections, our soldiers merely took a cue from our politicians and defected to Cameroon, instead of  saying they were on ‘tactical manoeuvre’?

    But whatever the degree of blood-letting or blood-shedding, the president’s campaign train must start. If he wins reelection, President Jonathan would still have a large part of the country under his control. And if he loses, his successor may have to negotiate with the rebels for a return of the Gwoza caliphate to Nigeria.

  • Ebola: Minister confirms female doctor dead

    Ebola: Minister confirms female doctor dead

    A female consultant physician at the First Consultant Hospital, Lagos who participated in the treatment of Late Patrick Sawyer who died of Ebola Virus Disease is dead.
    She was confirmed dead by Health Minister, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu on Tuesday night.
    The deceased doctor was not named, but Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh had been undergoing treatment at the EVD Isolation Centre in Lagos after leading the team that treated Sawyer.
    “With this unfortunate development the total number of Ebola Virus related deaths in Nigeria now stands at five. The other two patients currently under treatment in the isolation wards are stable and are being taken care of,” the minister said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dan Nwomeh.

  • Re: Ebola? Close the borders…Now!!!

    “In an Article published today titled “Ebola? Close the borders…Now!!!” our columnist, Hannatu Musawa  wrote that Patrick Sawyer, a victim of Ebola, may have travelled from Liberia to Nigeria because of a directive from his employers, ArcelorMittal SA. In fact, ArcelorMittal SA had no knowledge of his travel and did not send Mr Sawyer to Nigeria. They had referred Mr Sawyer to the Ministry of Health to be held in quarantine with daily monitoring and had requested him not to return to work until he had safely passed through a 28-day period. We apologise for the error. ”

    Editor

  • ‘Fear of Ebola can cause mental stress’

    ‘Fear of Ebola can cause mental stress’

    For Nigerians, the fear of Ebola is the beginning of wisdom. But the growing  fear about the disease has its down side. It can cause mental stress, report OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and WALE ADEPOJU.

    Since the late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer imported the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) into the country, Nigerians have been living in fear. Worried stiff about the disease, they are taking various precautions. But, experts warn that their undue worry may trigger a condition called Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

    According to the National Information Officer, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Lagos Centre Mr Olusoji Soremekun, Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak being experienced in Nigeria could give many people mental illness, if care is not taken, especially GAD.

    GAD is a long-term condition  that causes people to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues. People with GAD often struggle to remember the last time they felt relaxed. GAD can cause psychological (mental) and physical symptoms. These vary from person to person, but can include restlessness or worry and having trouble concentrating or sleeping.

    Already, The Nation has observed that bankers and other workers in banking have started putting on gloves when attending to customers. Also at the arrival lounge at both domestic and international airports officials wear gloves. Some are perpetually using hand sanitisers.

    But Soremekun insisted that it is needless for the citizenry to put on gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE).

    A source, who would not want to be named, said: “This is more of waste of money because it is not as effective as water and soap. More so, there are now fake and substandard hand sanitisers in circulation. Even the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is yet to realise that or swung into action in mopping up these products. Should people end up with fake or substandard hand sanitisers,it is as good as not caring for the hand at all.”

    A mother, Mrs Adamma James, said she is happy schools are on holiday, “if not, pupils and students would have contracted and shared same. I like it as it is. No school should resume until this Ebola is ended,” she stated.

    Soremekun said Nigerians should improve on their personal hygiene, such as the proven simple but effective precautionary practice of hand washing.

    “Hand washing with soap and water is necessary. But hand sanitizer with 60 per cent alcohol is also effective or any alcohol-based sanitizer. Regular bleach can also offer good hand hygiene if hands are washed thoroughly,” he said.

    Poor hand hygiene, he said, may predispose people to the disease because its transmission is through contact.

    He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) did not recommend home care, as people should not treat serious infections, such as Ebola, by themselves. They should go to recommended health facilities, he said.

    Soremekun said people need to cook meat very well before eating it.

    Besides, they should listen to health officials on the necessary steps to take.

    Meanwhile, doctors under the aegis of Medical Guild, Lagos State, have urged the Federal and state governments to equip all hospitals to prevent the spread of Ebola.

    They said this is necessary because patients reserve the right to choose the hospitals where they want to access treatment. Hospitals should, therefore have anti-Ebola equipment.

    The Guild’s chairman, Dr Biyi Kufo, said global practices demand that certain protocols must be put in place in all facilities to protect workers from contracting the disease.

    “We are not sure there is adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on ground. It is the foot soldiers on the field who feel the presence of battle. We work in these facilities and we are aware of the situation on the ground,” he said.

    Besides, proper approach in combating the disease should not exclude the doctors.

    He appealed to the government to ensure that measures are put in place to protect doctors and other health workers, saying this will reduce obvious anxiety in the sector. Then doctors can treat patients without fear, he added.

    The outbreak, he said, will test the level of preparedness of any country to respond to an emergency, especial its public health.

    He said doctors and other health workers, outside their immediate family members, are the group at the greatest risk of contracting the disease.

    Kufo said there is no cure for EVD but there is supportive care, such as treating diarrhoea and weakness, among other symptoms.

    He said no doctor is aware of what the life insurance coverage is, adding the government needs to be clear about it.

    Former President of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Osahon Enabulele has condemned the Federal Government’s sacking of 16,000 resident doctors across the country during the period of Ebola outbreak.

    He described the situation as“the most appalling by the use of an extreme, unwarranted and retrogressive measure by the present Federal Government.  This is so, particularly at this time of public health emergency when members of the Nigerian Medical Association across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are visibly in the field contributing their quota towards the containment of the Ebola virus disease outbreak, irrespective of the non-provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and a miserable hazard allowance of N5,000 per month.”

    Meanwhile, there are collaborative efforts to contain Ebola epidemic in the ECOWAS region.

    In Conakry, Guinea, there was a three-day workshop on synchronised cross-border interventions to contain the Ebola hemorrhagic fever epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

    It was organised under the aegis of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO). This was a follow-up to the WAHO proposed recommendations which were approved at the end of the Summit of the Heads of State and Government in Accra.

    There were 30 participants. It comprised of health officials, civilian administrators, community leaders in border districts, and national disease control officials from affected countries, such as Guinea and Sierra Leone, including implementation partners such as RESAOLAB, Fondation Merieux and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).

    The meeting was headed by WAHO Director General, Dr. Xavier Crespin.

    Programme Officer in charge of Disease and Epidemic Control, Dr. Felicité Chokki-Laleye said several challenges have persisted since the outbreak.

    Dr. Crespin said no intervention to contain Ebola epidemic should be left unexplored until the West African region effectively brings it under control.

    “This workshop is yet another opportunity for us all to share experiences, identify bottlenecks in our response efforts and come up with appropriate strategies to better contain the epidemic especially across our common borders” he concluded.

    Guinean Minister of Public Health & Public Hygiene, Dr. Colonel Remy Lamah said the workshop is a testimony of the concern that the Ebola epidemic represents in the region.

    He said: “We are aware that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone do not individually possess response capacities to contain this epidemic without harmonising their efforts”. The cross-border nature of the epidemic, the risk of propagation within our different countries and beyond requires us to take adequate and harmonised measures.”

  • JNI cautions Muslims on burial

    JNI cautions Muslims on burial

    The apex Islamic body in the North, Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), has cautioned the Muslim ummah to be cautious when burying the dead, to avoid contracting the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    JNI said Nigeria had joined the league of West African nations with the deadly disease, following the death in a Lagos hospital of a Liberian-American, Mr. Patrick Sawyer.

    In a statement yesterday in Kaduna by its Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, the Islamic body urged Muslims to protect themselves to curb the spread of the virus.

    It advised Imams to educate their followers on the dangers of the disease and the preventative measures they should take.

    The statement reads: “Our masajid (mosques) managers must maintain a high level of sanitation for the teeming congregation of worshippers. Worshippers, on the other hand, must cooperate in maintaining the sanitary condition of the masajid.

    “Most specific areas where the sanitation and or preventive measures are needed are the surroundings of the masajid (mosques), the toilets/bathrooms and, above all, the funeral/burial of our dead ones must be conducted with caution.

    “As confirmed by medical experts, the disease was first discovered in monkeys and contacted by those who eat monkeys and other bush meats. Alas, in Islam, eating of monkeys has already been discouraged (Makruh), according to many scholars of Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, we should continue to uphold this verdict as it also serves as a preventative measure.

    “The culture of personal hygiene as well as proper sanitation must always be emphasised. Thus, Islam is a religion of cleanliness: ‘Cleanliness is half of faith’, as reported in a sound Hadith.”

    JNI listed the symptoms of the disease to include fever, sore throat, muscle pains, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe internal and external bleeding, at the advanced stages of the disease.

    IT advocated prompt medical attention for the sick.

  • Nigeria has 10 cases of infection, says minister

    Nigeria has 10 cases of infection, says minister

    •177 on isolation, surveillance 

    Health Minister Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu said yesterday Nigeria has recorded 10 cases of infected persons with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    Of the 10, two have died, he said.

    The minister spoke on the deadly disease and government’s efforts to curtail its spread.

    He said 177 primary and secondary contacts of the index case had been placed under surveillance or isolation after 22 days of the EVD outbreak in Nigeria.

    Chukwu said: “Of these 10, two have died; that is, the Liberian-American, Mr Patrick Sawyer and the Nigerian nurse. Eight are alive on treatment.”

    The disease, he said, was discussed at a sub-regional level as a substantive agenda during the Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in July in Accra, Ghana.

    Nigeria, the minister said, played a leading role during the summit with the first and only donation of $3.5 million (N500 million) humanitarian and capacity building aid to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, all in West Africa, the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the ECOWAS Ebola Fund.

    He said the Liberian Government had expressed sympathies and regrets that the late Sawyer embarked on the tragic journey, which has brought sufferings, death and stress to Nigeria’s health system.

    Chukwu said: “In the same spirit, we share in solidarity, the grief of the governments and people of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone as we confront this challenge together.”

    The minister said the government would continue to discharge its responsibilities as the sub-region confronts the Ebola outbreak.

    He said President Jonathan approved the National Ebola Virus Disease Emergency Containment Plan with an immediate cash backing of N1.9 billion ($12 million) to complement the containment efforts already in place.

    Chukwu said the Federal Government, through its Ministry of Health and its agencies, had been working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC), local authorities and other international partners to further deepen and broaden the containment efforts.

    He said: “We will continue to work with all stakeholders, local and international partners to maximise and intensify efforts to contain and treat the existing cases.”

    Chukwu explained that those under surveillance did not have any symptom but were being monitored daily. The minister said the team visited 144 of those under surveillance to take their temperature and ask questions in line with the WHO template.

    Although he did not rule out the possibility of those who had direct (primary) contacts with Sawyer to still be symptomatic, Chukwu said their incubation period was over.

    He also said besides the N1.9 billion fund the Federal Government provided, the government had also donated $3.5 million to fight the virus in the three Ebola-ravaged countries.

    On the use of trial drugs on Ebola patients in United States (U.S), the minister explained that there was nothing wrong administering the trial drugs on patents, especially under the present condition, as long as it is with the consent of the patient.

     

  • Another Lagos nurse tests positive for Ebola

    Another Lagos nurse tests positive for Ebola

    Another Lagos nurse has been tested positive to Ebola Virus Disease 22 days after the first case of the virus was recorded.

    The newly wedded nurse was among the people that had direct contact with the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer.

    According to the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, the nurse  husband is among the 177 people placed under surveillance.

    He said nine people have so far developed EVD, thus bringing the total number of cases in Nigeria to 10.  Two of these two have died – that is the Liberian and the nurse while eight are alive and currently on treatment.

  • Ebola: ‘Sawyer disregarded directives not to travel out of Liberia’

    Ebola: ‘Sawyer disregarded directives not to travel out of Liberia’

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has disclosed that the Liberian national, Patrick Sawyer, was aware of his status as Ebola virus carrier before entering Nigeria.

    Onyebuchi, who regretted the outbreak of the disease in the country however described it is a “national emergency.”

    Consequently, the Federal government has placed restrictions on repatriation of corpses of Nigerians abroad into the country.

    According to the minister, while addressing member of the House of Representatives Committee on Health and other stakeholders at a public hearing on Ebola virus, Sawyer disregarded instructions of Liberian health officials not to travel out of the country.

    The minister, however, warned against the use of bitter cola as a preventive or curative measure against the deadly disease.

    He said report credited to former Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu, about the efficacy of bitter cola over the disease was premature and incorrect.

    “No evidence shows that bitter kola will prevent or cure Ebola. Iwu’s experiment was inconclusive,” he said.

    In his submission, the Project Director, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi, revealed that 70 Nigerians were currently under surveillance for the disease.

    According to him, of the 70 primary and secondary patients Sawyer had  contact with, 39 were hospital contacts while 22 were airport contacts.

    Those in contact with and who attended to Sawyer, according to him include men of the State Security Service (SSS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), medical and airport support personnel.

    In his contribution, Director, Port Health Services, Dr. Sani Gwarzo, revealed that restrictions have been placed on the repatriation of corpses of Nigerians abroad into the country.

    Besides, Gwarzo added that as part of efforts aimed at containing the outbreak of the virus in the country, 66 personnel were required by the Federal  Ministry of Health to man and screen travellers at the country’s several travel entry points.

    Earlier in his remarks,  the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Ndudi Elumelu, said the meeting was  reconvened to find out measures being put in place to curb the spread of the disease as well as the actual number of Nigerians affected.

    “Ebola is what most Nigerians are currently worried about, adding that measures must be taken to protect people,” he said.