The World Health Organisation on Saturday said it had deployed experts in Nigeria to help with safe handling of the remains of Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who died of Ebola virus disease on Friday.
WHO said this in a tweet from its African regional office.
“The national authority in Nigeria is working closely with the WHO and partners to ensure that this incident case is contained at the source,” it said in another statement.
In its latest update on the Ebola virus, the body also said 96 new cases and seven deaths were reported from Liberia and Sierra Leone between July 21 and 23.
Sawyer, who reportedly worked with the finance ministry in Liberia, became the first case of Ebola to be confirmed in Nigeria since its outbreak in other parts of West Africa – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Sawyer had arrived in Lagos on July 20 via the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. He died later after he was admitted to a private hospital in the state. Officials of the Lagos State ministry of health said he had been put under close surveillance.
Meanwhile, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has said it has taken various steps to secure the nation’s airports from the deadly Ebola virus. According to FAAN, the rising cases of Ebola in West Africa has become a source of concern to the authority and to this end, international airports have been placed on red-alert.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, stated that screening centres had already been set up especially at the international airports to screen every incoming passenger, especially those from countries where the virus had been recorded.
He added that airlines operating both domestic and international flights had also been alerted to be on their guard as regards the virus.
He said, “We have set up screening centres around our airport to ensure that every passenger that comes in is thoroughly screened. Also for the first time, we have asked airlines to be involved in this screening process. We are also insisting that passengers from countries where yellow fever documents are required present this on entry into the country.
“FAAN on its part will also screen all the manifest of all the airlines and we are in the process of setting up a ‘holding area’ at the airport such that if we detect any suspected case, such a person would be isolated there.”
Also, the Public Relations Officer, the Nigerian Immigration Service, Emeka Obua, said NIS personnel at the airports, seaports and land borders had been issued an advisory by the Ministry of Health, to watch out for anyone coming into the country with symptoms of the Ebola disease.
He further said that the NIS personnel had been cautioned to wear hand gloves and limit their contacts with people coming into the country.
They are also working closely with Port Health officials who know exactly the symptoms to look out for in people. Anyone who is suspected of having the disease would be quarantined and taken to the hospital for evaluation; we are not taking any chances.”
Meanwhile, experts have also called on Nigeria’s health authorities to establish effective disease surveillance around the country borders to prevent any infection in the populace.
In an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, a veterinarian virologist and President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, said an effective disease surveillance system at the country’s airports and borders was necessary to prevent such incidents in the future.
He said, “The case (of the Liberian) we found was by chance and not by preparedness. If the man had not been sick on arrival in Lagos, he could have gone to Calabar, which was his destination. And if he had fallen sick in Calabar, I’m not sure people would have detected the exact cause of his illness, and that would have created more problems.”
Although he commended the Federal Government for acting decisive when the case was discovered, Tomori called on the health authorities to be more proactive than to wait for chance or luck to detect an infected person.
“The country’s disease surveillance system must be up and doing. We cannot wait for chance or luck to detect, especially when it is known that many Nigerians travel to and from these affected countries. So, we should have set in place in motion these measures. We must put every effort to ensure that detect them as soon as possible.”
In the same vein, the Director of the World Bank funded African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at Redeemers University, Mowe, Ogun State, Prof. Christian Happi, noted that the correct diagnosis of the Ebola virus on the Liberian was successfully carried out in the laboratories at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and ACEGID.
“The good news is that we have the capability to diagnose it. Our result was corroborated by WHO Collaborating Centre in Dakar, Senegal,” he told one of our correspondents.
Ebola, which is said to have a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent, currently has no specific treatment, but experts say some patients will recover with appropriate medical care.
The symptoms of Ebola include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, vomiting, sore throat, headache and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
The era of HIV/AIDS is gradually fading away, it is now the era of Ebola. May God save us in Nigeria. People should take note - this is another sign of end time.
ReplyDelete