As part of preventive measures against
the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, the Federal Government has directed relevant
authorities to henceforth stop receiving corpses from the West African
countries into the country.
The government specifically banned
the bringing of corpses from the West African countries where the spread of EVD
had been established. It however said that there was no fresh case of Ebola
virus disease in the country.
The implication is that any Nigerian
who dies in any of the affected West African country would be buried there
as the cost of keeping such corpses in mortuaries until the EVD palaver settled
could be very enormous. It also means less expenses for such bereaved families
who may have to bury their loved ones in the said countries of West Africa.
On the heels of the Federal
Government’s action was Anambra State government which yesterday,
directed the screening of corpses entering into the state from any part
of the country as part of it’s precautionary measures against the dreaded
disease.
However, there were mixed
reactions to the advice by health officials on Nigerians to avoid the
consumption of bush meat so as not to contract the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease,
EVD, at Amasiri in Afikpo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State,
where the Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, hails from.
70 contacts under monitoring
At least 70 persons have been
identified to have had contact with the late Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer who
died of EVD, in Lagos, just as the Lagos State government said that two earlier
identified persons who developed fever after having contact with Sawyer had
tested negative of the killer disease.
At separate news conferences
yesterday, at Ikeja on the update of Ebola case in the state, the Director,
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Professor Abdulsalim Nasidi, the
Lagos State Commis-sioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris and Special Adviser
to Governor Babtunde Fashola, Dr Yewande Adeshina, at Alausa, said the
Rapid Response Team, RRT, on the disease was currently tracking all contacts of
persons exposed to the passenger with EVD.
Nasidi, who commended the Lagos State
government for its prompt response and pro-active measures so far, said that 75
percent of early detected patients of EVD survived.
Nasidi explained: “All the guidelines
we are using were specified by the World Health Organisation, WHO. On the
manifest concerning Sawyer, the manifest we are waiting for included the
manifest on the first flight between Monrovia, Ghana and Lome… We have got some
of the information but there are some little gaps we are trying to fill. We are
getting full corporation from the airline operator.’’
On the corpse which arrived Anambra
State from Liberia, they said it came into the country through Air Gambia. It
was received in Lagos on July 21, 2014 and transported by road. It was received
in a private mortuary.
“The FG has issued a directive that
we will henceforth not receive anybody or corpse from the West African coast
especially from Liberia and others that were on red alert for Ebola virus.
Mechanisms are in place to checkmate that. For instance, a plane was to come
into the country with a corpse but the port health officials rejected it. Our
problem is the land border.
“We are working in collaboration, the
country will be notified through the diplomatic channels that they should not
allow any transportation of any dead corpse into the country, so it is both
side
“But in order to have effective monitoring,
we held a meeting today (yesterday) and how it will be done was stated. We
shall be giving update on this very soon.
“All the handlers of the corpses
brought into the country from Liberia via Air Gambia will be registered and
tracked and those who accompanied the corpse to Anambra and the mortuary
handlers are under quarantine in Anambra State.
“Our team in Anambra State will
tomorrow, (Today) give us the statistics of those who came in contact with the
corpse.
Two contact people with fever
‘’The two people tested negative but
that does not mean that we will stop. We will continue to place them under
observation until we are certified that they are free. They were part of the 70
established contacts. First, it was 59, it increased to 69 and yesterday
(Thursday), we had another and this increased the number to 70.
Prevention:
‘’There is no specific treatment for
Ebola virus. We treat the symptoms. If we say that there is no cure, the
patients will not come to the hospital. There is no specific drug for Ebola
virus. But we can use other drugs to save an infected person.’’
Early detection percentage
On early intervention, three out of
four cases survive but if they come late, one out of four survives.
Lagos Health Commissioner
On his own, the Lagos State Health
Commissioner, Jide Idris, said the state government embarked on contact tracing
following the report to ensure that all contacts to an Ebola patient who
developed fever received care immediately and were separated from others to
stop spread of the disease, stressing that it is the best way to stop the
spread of the disease because contacts are not infective until symptoms start.
Meantime, Governor Babatunde Fashola
of Lagos State, has urged Federal Government to urgently shut some of the borders
as part of preventive measures against outbreak of EVD.
Fashola, who earlier spoke with
Government House Correspondents on the EVD in the state after returning from
Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia, harped on vigilance by governments at all levels
and members of the public.
According to him, “Few West African
countries have been at the epic center of the virus. I believe some of the
countries are Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. There is a risk to the entire
sub-region. I like to commend all the health workers in the state for the very
professional manner they have responded while I was out of the country.
“One must also commend the management
of First Consultant Health Centre for choosing life ahead of money. That is how
it should be. I must use this opportunity to appeal to all health institutions
to report suspects any such case.
“I believe what people must begin to
do is to imbibe stronger sanitation and preventive measures, especially
hand-washing periodically with soap and water. This has been part of our health
strategy. This was why we created the department of public health in 2011. This
is the emerging global health challenge.
“This is no longer a local, but an
international problem because it is easily transmittable across the borders and
boundaries. The Federal Government team has been working with the state team, I
think what the Federal Government needed to do at this time is to consider the
imperative of closing some of our borders.
“It is difficult to stop this
epidemic, we must now choose the treaty obligations that we hold under the
ECOWAS treaty and perhaps short term benefits in terms of economic cost to
human life. We must make that choice and consider it very seriously. It is a
national security issue.
“I think we should give it that attention.
I think men and women who man our border posts-sea, air and land-especially the
customs, now know that they are our first line of defence. What happens going
forward depends on how professionally they act. It is prevention rather than
calling the health professionals to quarantine people.
“That is really the strongest defence
now against migration of the virus. We will continue to put out information
about what the health risks are and the symptoms. I have instructed the
ministry to enlighten the public on what to do in order not to contact the
virus.
“This is also the best time to stop
public urination, because it has health risk. We have been appealing against it
and this is the best time to stop such act. This is the time that everyone must
be at the vanguard of stopping that untidy behaviour. For me, I think cremation
has been the best method.
“Dead bodies emit fluid. This showed
that the cremation policy of the state is the best solution to deal with the
issue. This is a health security and people must embrace contemporary hygiene
standards. All the residents who had contacts with the dead Liberian have been
tested and the result proved negative.
“But there is still risk because we
had a dead body was brought into the country from Liberia. This means there is
still need for vigilance at our border post. The officials at these places
should act professionally and report every incident they suspect.”
Ebola: Obiano directs screening of
Anambra bound corpses as Ebonyi indigenes question advice against eating of
bush meat.
ANAMBRA ORDERS SCREENING OF CORPSES
INTO THE STATE
Also, following the scare of Ebola
disease in Anambra State as a result of a corpse brought into the state from
Liberia last week, the state government yesterday directed immediate screening
of all corpses received in the state.
The state governor, Chief Willie
Obiano made this known in Awka yesterday.
Obiano, who addressed reporters at
the Women Development Center, Awka, said he has already instructed the police
to mount stop –and –search at all entry points to the state, adding that those
carrying such corpses must show the certificate of death of the corpse before
they could be allowed into Anambra.
He however debunked the rumour of
Ebola disease in the state, saying that all that the government was doing was
to take precautions since that corpse was brought from Liberia where the
disease had claimed many lives.
Mixed reactions in Ebonyi State
A visit to the area yesterday by Saturday Vanguard showed that
the residents were reluctant in stopping to hunt for bush meat which they said
provided them the income to train their children or wards in schools. Bush meat
is the major source of income as well as protein in the rural community where
hunting for/ selling of bush meat was the second major occupation of the
people, after farming.
Some bush meat joints were bubbling as people said they would
all have perished if the bush meat which they had been consuming since ages was
contaminated with the disease.
Uche Akrika who spoke on the issue at
Abakakaliki said he had been eating bush meat, especially grass cutter since he
grew up and wondered when bush meat began to cause Ebola or any other type of
sickness.
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