Liberian Ebola Victim Had Direct Contact With 59 People Says Lagos State Government
The Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Jide Idris, on Monday said that at least 59 people came in direct contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian confirmed to have died of the Ebola virus.
Mr. Idris said this at a joint press conference of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Lagos State government on Monday.
The persons include 44 contacts at the hospital he was taken to, 38 of which were health workers and six laboratory staff; 15 contacts at the airport, comprising three Ecowas officials – a driver, a liaison officer and a protocol officer. Others include two nursing staff, five airport handlers and the Nigerian ambassador to Liberia.
The commissioner said 20 percent of those that came in contact with the deceased had been physically screened.
“The private hospital (First Consultant medical Centre) was demobilised and primary source of infection eliminated. The patient has been cremated and the ash will be transferred to the Liberian government whenever the need arises. Decontamination process in all affected areas has commenced.”
Speaking of the measures taken by the state and federal state authorities to combat an outbreak of the disease, Mr. Idris explained that an incident command centre to coordinate the rapid respond team on the field had been established.
He said five working groups were also formed namely: Contact Tracing Surveillance and Laboratory, Health Education and Social Mobilisation Case Management and Infection Prevention and Control, Logistics and Data Management.
He also said an isolation ward has been created at the Infectious Disease Centre, Yaba, and that plans were being made to open three more isolation centres.
Explaining that there are no cures or vaccines for the virus, the Special Adviser on Health to the Lagos State governor, Yewande Adesina, warned faith healers not to attempt to treat patients with symptoms of the virus but to promptly report cases to the health authorities for their own safety and that of those around them.
Ms. Adesina also warned family members to desist from taken anyone with the symptoms of the disease to hospital on their own. She said people should call the emergency number provided so that trained health officials will be dispatched to carry the patient to one of the designated isolation centres.
The health experts warned against eating apes and fruit bats, which are natural carriers of the virus.
The President of Nigerian Academy of Science, Oyewale Tomori, who is a Veterinarian Virologist, debunked the rumour that pigs are the carriers of the disease and said as long as people maintain proper hygiene, there was no need to panic.
