UPDATED: 5 suspected Ebola victims isolated

Five new suspected cases of Ebola Virus infection have been admitted to the isolation centre at the Yaba Mainland Hospital, the Lagos state government said on Wednesday.

However, minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, subsequently released a statement saying he “wished to reiterate that at present, Nigeria has only two confirmed cases” of Ebola.

“This clarification follows media reports of five new cases in Lagos State. This report should be disregarded,” Chukwu said.

“The minister reiterates that any doubtful information on the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria should be verified from the Office of the Honourable Minister of Health who has the sole authority to announce confirmed cases as far as disease epidemics in Nigeria are concerned.

“The minister further reassures the public that any new confirmed case of Ebola Virus Disease will be announced by his office promptly. However, as at 7 pm today, there is no other confirmed Ebola Virus Disease case in Nigeria outside the two that are currently under treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos.”

While speaking at a press conference in Lagos, Lagos state commissioner for health, Mr. Jide Idris, had said five suspected Ebola patients were brought in on Tuesday.

He said three of the suspected cases had primary contact with Patrick Sawyer while two others were secondary contacts.

He also said the government would continue to intensify its search for people who may have had primary or secondary contact with the index case.

“We are currently following up 213 contacts, and 62 have completed the two-day follow-up. Government’s vigorous search is now moving from primary to secondary contacts,” he said.

Idris addressed public concerns over the health of Ebola victims who had been treated and discharged on account that they had fully recovered.

“Certain concerns have been raised regarding those already discharged. I wish to reassure you that the discharge process was in line with WHO International Health Regulations and they are still being followed up,” he said.

“No recorded carrier state in a person who has recovered from the disease has been recorded. I encourage persons who have come in contact with infected persons to report early for treatment, as this improves chances of survival.”

Speaking on Tuesday’s death of Dr. Stella Adadevoh, a senior consultant and endocrinologist at First Consultant Medical Centre, Obalende, he described her and other medics killed by the disease as “heroes and heroines”.

“She [Dr. Adadevoh] took the initiative to intimate the ministry concerning the index case, the Liberian-American, and [it is] substantially to her credit that the moderate containment has been achieved.

“She led the team who attended to the index case. Her doggedness and commitment to duty saw her personally reviewing the case even though the patient had earlier been seen by a doctor.”

He expressed the condolences of the ministry of health with families, co-workers, friends, and loved ones of the late victims “on these irreparable losses in the line of duty.”

He also allayed fears about the contagiousness of the disease, as the mode of spread remains mainly transmission from an infected person in an infective state and from an infected animal to a person.

But he called for vigilance, saying human-to-human transmission is only achievable by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill (fever being a key sign) from Ebola virus through body fluids such as blood, urine, stool, saliva, breast milk, semen, and vomitus.

“Burial ceremonies where mourners, including family members, have direct contact with patients who died of Ebola have also played a role in the spread,” he said.

“Direct contact with dead bodies should be minimised at this period, even as washing and burial/disposal of such bodies should be professionally handled with safety to personal health of handlers being a cardinal focus.”