Some Cheery News: Nigeria is winning the battle against Ebola
There’s only one Ebola patient left in Nigeria. This was announced earlier today by the Minister of Health, Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu at press conference.
The virus was first brought to Nigeria by a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, almost 6 weeks ago. Since that time, a total of fourteen other people were infected, five people have died, including Sawyer, while seven have recovered fully. According to the Minister, two of the nurses who had primary contact with Mr. Sawyer were discharged from the isolation centre in Lagos yesterday, 25 August, 2014.
During the period as well, a total of 129 people were placed under surveillance, and all of them have finished the 21 day gestation period of the virus, without any incident. Of that number, only one showed any symptoms of the disease, and is still under observation.
“As of today, Nigeria has 13 cases of Ebola virus disease. That is including the index case- the late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer,” Chukwu said. “Five did not survive, however two more Nigerian patients have been discharged. Both of them health workers, were discharged yesterday. This brings the number of those
discharged now to seven. As I speak to you Nigeria has only one case of Ebola virus. This is thus far an indication that Nigeria has contained the virus.”
The minister however warned that though the virus has been effectively contained, that Ebola has not yet been eliminated.
Charting the spread
The first Ebola case in Nigeria was an imported case of a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who travelled by air from Liberia and became violently ill upon arriving in Lagos. Sawyer died five days later, on 25 July.
In a rare show of cooperation among the different tiers of government, Lagos and the Federal government placed all the people who had primary contact with Sawyer under observation for signs of infection, and at the same time increased surveillance at all entry points to the country; health officials were placed at entry points to conduct tests on people arriving in the country.
On 6 August, Justina Ejelonu, a nurse who had treated Sawyer, then campaigned to have an experimental drug, died of the disease. On 9 August, the Nigerian National Health Research Ethics Committee, the organization regulating research ethics in the country, issued a statement waiving the regular administrative requirements that limit the international shipment of any biological samples out of Nigeria. The statement also supported the use of non-validated treatments without prior review and approval by a health research ethics committee.
On 19 August, Dr. Jide Idris, the Lagos state commissioner of health announced that Nigeria had seen twelve confirmed cases. By that time, four were dead (including Sawyer) while another five, including two doctors and a nurse, had been declared disease-free and discharged from hospital. On on the same day as Dr. Idris’s announcement, the doctor who treated Sawyer, Ameyo Adadevoh, and who had prevented him from leaving the hospital at the time of diagnosis, thereby playing a key role in curbing the spread of the virus in Nigeria also died of Ebola disease.
