A top
official at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, has
said that one of the people who helped the 40-year-old Liberian,
Patrick Sawyer, on the Monrovia-Lome and Lome-Lagos flight may have been
infected with the virus.
The reliable source, who is also on the
team of experts monitoring the testing and surveillance of persons who
have had contact with the late Liberian victim in Lagos, told our
correspondent on Wednesday, that although they had yet to confirm, the
person was showing feverish symptoms similar to that of Ebola virus.
He said, “We are still investigating and
monitoring those who had first contact with Sawyer. One of the people
who helped him off the plane is showing signs of fever, a symptom of
Ebola. We have isolated them and we are carrying out various tests to
establish if it is Ebola or not.”
However, when contacted the Special
Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, denied
that none of the people that had been isolated at the Infectious Disease
Hospital, Yaba, was sick.
Adeshina said, “No one is sick. We are
doing a routine surveillance at the centre now and I can tell you that
no one is sick or showing symptoms. We are just monitoring them because
we are going by the World Health Organisation’s guidelines of
prevention, treatment and management.”
The Lagos State Government had on Monday
said 59 people in the state came in contact with the 40-year-old
Liberian who died of Ebola virus in the state on July 25.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide
Idris, said this figure consisted of 44 healthcare workers and 15
others at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
They include 44 hospital contacts (38 healthcare workers and six laboratory staff) and 15 airport contacts.
The 15 airport contacts comprise three
ECOWAS staff-driver, Liaison, and Protocol Officer, Nigerian Ambassador
to Monrovia, two nursing staff and five airport passenger handlers.
Sawyer, arrived in Lagos via Lome on Asky Airline Flight KP50.
He was said to be on his way to Calabar,
the Cross River State capital for the 8th ECOWAS Retreat of Heads of
Offices as a senior ECOWAS official in Liberia.
The deceased was also reported to have
been very ill on arrival at the airport in Lagos and was assisted by
some airport and ECOWAS protocol staff to a private hospital in Obalende
.
It was said that when he showed the
symptom of Ebola virus, the hospital notified the state Ministry of
Health which also notified the Federal Ministry of Health.
The patient was said to have died at about 6.50am on July 25.
The state Ministry of Health in
collaboration with the National Centre for Disease Control of the
Federal Ministry of Health, and WHO have established an isolation centre
for persons believed to have had contact with Sawyer while entering the
country.
The private health facility where Sawyer
was admitted had been decontaminated to eliminate any possible
infections, according to health officials.
Meanwhile, veterinary virologist, Prof.
Oyewale Tomori, has warned Nigerians against unsupervised burial of
persons who died of Ebola.
He said 40 per cent of cases in high risk
countries were transmitted from victims` bodies, stressing that an
Ebola corpse was deadlier than the patient.
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