Heartbroken mother of Mr Patrick Sawyer, the 40-year-old man, who brought Ebola to Nigeia is demanding the ashes of his cremated son.
Sawyer’s remains were burnt after his death of Ebola in Lagos on July 25.
“I can’t stand it,”. “I can’t sleep. Every day I think about them,” Georgia Nah, told NBC 10 at her Southwest Philly home, United States.
Sawyer became ill just a few weeks after rushing to the bedside of his sick sister, 27-year-old Princess Nyuennyue, who was hospitalized in early July in Liberia, where she lived with her fiancée and son.
“I didn’t even know she was sick,” said Nah as she choked back tears.
Nyuennyue died July 7-- one day after her brother visited her.
But hospital officials did not test the woman for Ebola until after her death – meaning her brother had no way of knowing he was exposed to the virus.
About two weeks after his sister’s death, Sawyer -- in Liberia since 2008 for his work with the foreign government’s Ministry of Finance -- was sent to Nigeria on assignment.
He collapsed as the plane touched down July 20 and was rushed to a hospital, where he was quarantined until his death five days later. He left behind a wife and three daughters, who he visited regularly at their home in Minnesota.
“My children were good children,” Nah said.
Nyennetue was buried in Liberia. But more than two weeks after Sawyer’s death, his family is still working to have his ashes returned to the states.
“At least send me something,” Nah said. “To know that here are the death certificates, the results of the Ebola. I don’t have anything.”
A memorial service for Patrick and his sister will be held in Philadelphia, United States on August 23.
Nearly 1,000 people have died so far in West Africa in what is believed to be the worst outbreak of Ebola in history.
Symptoms of the disease are similar to those of flu, and include fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and finally bleeding and death.
There is currently no vaccine or cure for the virulent disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday reiterated its position that the risk of transmission of Ebola virus disease during air travel remains low.
“Unlike infections such as influenza or tuberculosis, Ebola is not airborne,” says Dr Isabelle Nuttall, Director of WHO Global Capacity Alert and Response. “It can only be transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is sick with the disease.”
“On the small chance that someone on the plane is sick with Ebola, the likelihood of other passengers and crew having contact with their body fluids is even smaller. Usually when someone is sick with Ebola, they are so unwell that they cannot travel. WHO is therefore advising against travel bans to and from affected countries.
“Because the risk of Ebola transmission on airplanes is so low, WHO does not consider air transport hubs at high risk for further spread of Ebola,” says Dr Nuttall.
Last week, after the meeting of the Ebola Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations, WHO provided advice to countries to help contain the current Ebola outbreak and prevent it from spreading further. The guidance recommended:
•No ban on international travel or trade;
•That countries be prepared to detect, investigate, and manage Ebola cases; including access to a qualified diagnostic laboratory for Ebola virus and, where appropriate, the capacity to identify and care for travellers originating from known Ebola-infected areas who arrive at international airports or major land crossing points with unexplained fever and other symptoms.
“Worldwide, countries should provide their citizens travelling to Ebola-affected countries with accurate and relevant information on the Ebola outbreak and measures to reduce the risk of exposure,” the WHO said.
The WHO has also warned that the deadly Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been ‘vastly’ underestimated and extraordinary measures are needed to contain the disease.
The warning comes as the United States ordered the evacuation of diplomats’ families from Sierra Leone, one of the countries at the epicentre of the outbreak.
The Geneva-based organisation said in a statement that it was co-ordinating a ‘massive scale-up of the international response’ in a bid to tackle the spread of the disease
The death toll from the condition has now climbed to 1,069 with most victims in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The WHO said in the statement: ‘The outbreak is expected to continue for some time. WHO’s operational response plan extends over the next several months.
‘Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.
‘WHO is coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response, marshalling support from individual countries, disease control agencies, agencies within the United Nations system, and others.
‘WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan held discussions with a group of ambassadors from Geneva’s United Nations missions. The meeting aimed to identify the most urgent needs within countries and match them with rapid international support.
‘These steps align with recognition of the extraordinary measures needed, on a massive scale, to contain the outbreak in settings characterised by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors, and rampant fear.’
Doctors from China have also gone to Sierra Leone to help treat patients suspected of having the virus.
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