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A Lagos nurse infected with the Ebola virus has died, the first Nigerian to die from the disease which has now killed 932 people in four West African nations. She was among medics involved in the treatment of Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian man who died of Ebola in Lagos last month just days after arriving by air.
Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, who announced the death of the female nurse, said Nigeria now has seven confirmed cases of Ebola, including the imported case of Mr Sawyer.
The other five, including a female doctor, were all involved in the treatment of the Liberian man.
“Yesterday, 5th August, 2014, the first known Nigerian to die of (Ebola) was recorded and this was one of the nurses that attended to the Liberian. The other five cases are currently being treated at the isolation ward in Lagos,” Chukwu told journalists at a news conference in Abuja.
He said a “24/7 Emergency Operations Centre” being set up over the Ebola threat will be fully functional by tomorrow, to be headed by Dr. Faisal Shuaibu as the Incident Manager.
Dr Shuaibu works with the Bill Gates Foundation, Daily Trust learnt.
“(He) will later today lead a 6-man inter-agency team drawn from National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the US CDC, the WHO, UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Lagos to complete the setting up of the centre.
“They will be joined by the other personnel from the Lagos State Government and the federal hospitals in the Lagos area as well as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.”
Chukwu said government was recruiting additional health personnel to strengthen the response team managing the situation in Lagos.
“We are making arrangements to procure isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
‘No handshake’
Later yesterday, Chukwu spoke at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where the Federal Executive Council discussed the Ebola threat and measures being taken to contain it.
He said the virus is contagious and infectious, and urged Nigerians to avoid unnecessary handshake.
“For the ordinary members of the public, if you don’t need to give handshake, don’t bother (doing so). If you must shake hands, wash your hands and use sanitisers,” he said.
The minister said Nigeria has written to the United States Centre for Disease Control requesting the trial drug administered on two Americans now being treated after getting infected with Ebola in Liberia.
“We have written to the US and we are hoping that they will reply us on whether we can have access to the drug. We have requested it,” he said.
“We have a national emergency. Everyone is at risk. Nobody is immune. The experience of Nigeria has alerted the world. It just takes one individual to travel by air to the remotest part of the world to spread Ebola virus.”
At another meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Health in Abuja, Chukwu said: “Mr Sawyer left Liberia for an ECOWAS meeting to be held in Nigeria. But before he left Liberia, he knew he was sick, and the government there told him not to travel, but he ignored the directive and travelled for the meeting.”
He dismissed claims that bitter kola could cure the Ebola virus but said a committee has been set up to look into the claims.
Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control, Dr Abdulsalam Nasidi, said Nigeria may ban travels to the three West African Ebola-infested countries to forestall its spread in Nigeria.
He said if the 70 people put on surveillance could be carefully managed, the spread of the virus in Nigeria could be curtailed. The 70 include 39 hospital contacts, 22 airport contacts and nine laboratory contacts, he said.
For his part, Director General of Ports Health Services, Dr Sani Gwarzo, said Mr Sawyer had exposed so many of Nigerian officials to danger, including men of Immigration, SSS and others who screened him at the point of entry into the country.
Gwarzo said every traveller coming into Nigeria at both airports and seaports must be screened. “We documented 68 ports in total. We advise against closure of borders because people can use foot paths to travel in and out, which is very difficult to trace,” he said.
Situation ‘extremely serious’
In Lagos, where all the Ebola infections in Nigeria occurred, Health Commissioner Dr. Jide Idris, who spoke at a news conference, said two among those who tested positive for Ebola are in serious condition.
He said volunteers were urgently needed to assist in treating secondary contacts—the immediate relatives of those who tested positive.
“No doubt, the situation is very extremely serious. We need more volunteers especially contact trackers, experience case management and expertise in, but not restricted to, infectious disease control like doctors, nurses, environmental health workers, phlebotomists and their likes,” Idris said.
Speaking on spread of the virus, the commissioner said those who treated the late Sawyer were not properly kitted because they did not know that the Liberian was an Ebola patient.
He said the state government was yet to begin looking for relatives of the people who tested positive to the Ebola virus, as the focus now was to segregate those under surveillance.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement yesterday the death toll from the world’s worst Ebola outbreak has risen to 932 after 45 patients died between August 2 and August 4.
The WHO data included Mr Sawyer’s death in Nigeria but not the death of the Lagos nurse. The figures also did not mention Saudi Arabia, where a man died yesterday after returning from a business trip to Sierra Leone.
Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, who announced the death of the female nurse, said Nigeria now has seven confirmed cases of Ebola, including the imported case of Mr Sawyer.
The other five, including a female doctor, were all involved in the treatment of the Liberian man.
“Yesterday, 5th August, 2014, the first known Nigerian to die of (Ebola) was recorded and this was one of the nurses that attended to the Liberian. The other five cases are currently being treated at the isolation ward in Lagos,” Chukwu told journalists at a news conference in Abuja.
He said a “24/7 Emergency Operations Centre” being set up over the Ebola threat will be fully functional by tomorrow, to be headed by Dr. Faisal Shuaibu as the Incident Manager.
Dr Shuaibu works with the Bill Gates Foundation, Daily Trust learnt.
“(He) will later today lead a 6-man inter-agency team drawn from National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the US CDC, the WHO, UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Lagos to complete the setting up of the centre.
“They will be joined by the other personnel from the Lagos State Government and the federal hospitals in the Lagos area as well as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.”
Chukwu said government was recruiting additional health personnel to strengthen the response team managing the situation in Lagos.
“We are making arrangements to procure isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
‘No handshake’
Later yesterday, Chukwu spoke at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where the Federal Executive Council discussed the Ebola threat and measures being taken to contain it.
He said the virus is contagious and infectious, and urged Nigerians to avoid unnecessary handshake.
“For the ordinary members of the public, if you don’t need to give handshake, don’t bother (doing so). If you must shake hands, wash your hands and use sanitisers,” he said.
The minister said Nigeria has written to the United States Centre for Disease Control requesting the trial drug administered on two Americans now being treated after getting infected with Ebola in Liberia.
“We have written to the US and we are hoping that they will reply us on whether we can have access to the drug. We have requested it,” he said.
“We have a national emergency. Everyone is at risk. Nobody is immune. The experience of Nigeria has alerted the world. It just takes one individual to travel by air to the remotest part of the world to spread Ebola virus.”
At another meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Health in Abuja, Chukwu said: “Mr Sawyer left Liberia for an ECOWAS meeting to be held in Nigeria. But before he left Liberia, he knew he was sick, and the government there told him not to travel, but he ignored the directive and travelled for the meeting.”
He dismissed claims that bitter kola could cure the Ebola virus but said a committee has been set up to look into the claims.
Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control, Dr Abdulsalam Nasidi, said Nigeria may ban travels to the three West African Ebola-infested countries to forestall its spread in Nigeria.
He said if the 70 people put on surveillance could be carefully managed, the spread of the virus in Nigeria could be curtailed. The 70 include 39 hospital contacts, 22 airport contacts and nine laboratory contacts, he said.
For his part, Director General of Ports Health Services, Dr Sani Gwarzo, said Mr Sawyer had exposed so many of Nigerian officials to danger, including men of Immigration, SSS and others who screened him at the point of entry into the country.
Gwarzo said every traveller coming into Nigeria at both airports and seaports must be screened. “We documented 68 ports in total. We advise against closure of borders because people can use foot paths to travel in and out, which is very difficult to trace,” he said.
Situation ‘extremely serious’
In Lagos, where all the Ebola infections in Nigeria occurred, Health Commissioner Dr. Jide Idris, who spoke at a news conference, said two among those who tested positive for Ebola are in serious condition.
He said volunteers were urgently needed to assist in treating secondary contacts—the immediate relatives of those who tested positive.
“No doubt, the situation is very extremely serious. We need more volunteers especially contact trackers, experience case management and expertise in, but not restricted to, infectious disease control like doctors, nurses, environmental health workers, phlebotomists and their likes,” Idris said.
Speaking on spread of the virus, the commissioner said those who treated the late Sawyer were not properly kitted because they did not know that the Liberian was an Ebola patient.
He said the state government was yet to begin looking for relatives of the people who tested positive to the Ebola virus, as the focus now was to segregate those under surveillance.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement yesterday the death toll from the world’s worst Ebola outbreak has risen to 932 after 45 patients died between August 2 and August 4.
The WHO data included Mr Sawyer’s death in Nigeria but not the death of the Lagos nurse. The figures also did not mention Saudi Arabia, where a man died yesterday after returning from a business trip to Sierra Leone.
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