Kaduna records first suspected Ebola case

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Kaduna records first suspected Ebola case

KADUNA has recorded its first suspected case of the Ebola Virus Disease with 19 years old student from Zaria being put under monitor at the isolation centre at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria.

The suspect, an undergraduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, has been said to be exhibiting symptoms of the deadly EVD.

Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Thot Dogo, confirmed this to one our correspondents in Kaduna on Tuesday.

Dogo said the authorities of the ABU Teaching Hospital alerted his ministry when they suspected that the man started showing some symptoms of Ebola. He said the suspect had high fever and rashes on his body after being admitted in the hospital for over a week.

“The man has fever and there are rashes all over his body. These are symptoms consistent with the Ebola disease. The blood sample of the patient has been taken to a laboratory in Lagos for tests and we expect the result of the test today (Tuesday),” the commissioner said.

He added that the outcome of the laboratory result would determine further actions, saying the state government had provided the management of ABUTH with protective equipment for its team of medical personnel attending to the patient.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation on Tuesday said the dreaded EVD in Nigeria could be contained while the Rivers State government said it had covered about 96 per cent of the high risk cases that had primary contacts with the late Dr. Iyke Enemou, who died on August 22, 2014 after contacting the Ebola virus.

WHO’s Country Director in Nigeria, Mr. Rui Vaz, also promised to give technical support to the Rivers State government to ensure that the disease was controlled.

Vaz, who spoke when he led a delegation of the organisation on a visit to the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, said early diagnosis was crucial to the control of Ebola.

Describing the global health organisation as a technical agency rather than a financial organisation, Vaz commended the commitment of the state towards tackling the disease.

He said, “I will like to highlight that Ebola can be contained and we are going to contain it, there is no doubt. But everything depends on all of us. It is not only the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. This is a cross-cutting issue; it requires attention, and the critical matter is the leadership and ownership of the process.

“WHO is in the country to provide technical support. We are a technical agency; we are not a financial agency. It is very important to highlight that there is a strong commitment by the governor and the commissioner, and also other entities. I see also the high involvement in the response of the private sector.

“The most important thing in Ebola control is the early diagnosis of any potential suspected cases and takes necessary precautions, in terms of isolation where it is needed, and other measures to stop the chain of infection.”

Vaz pointed out that WHO had deployed its officials in Rivers to establish an Emergency Operation Centre immediately it learnt of the first case of Ebola in the state.

He said, “Rivers State is an important economic front in this country; that requires some particular attention. WHO as a technical agency, since the information of the first case, we deployed immediately, our colleagues from Lagos and they came here and first, they helped to establish the emergency operation centre (EOC) and it is already done.

Parker had earlier told journalists during a briefing that the state government had succeed to a considerable extent in tracing those that had primary contact with the late Enemuo, who died at the Good Heart Hospital in Port Harcourt.

“As at Sunday, contact tracing was going on. But on Monday, we had a report that almost all of them have been contacted. We now have 96 per cent coverage, which is huge and which is a good success.

“By now, as we are talking, they would have finished everything. So, we are on it and almost all of them have been contacted,” the health commissioner added.

He, however, pointed accusing finger at the parastatals that managed the nation’s airports for the lapses that paved the way for the diplomat, Olu-Ibukun Koye, to sneak into Rivers State through the Port Harcourt International Airport.

He said, “If you remember when this thing started, we were a bit worried about our point of entry. You know the airports are managed by parastatals of the Federal Government.

“We had issues with them (parastatals), but with the partnership of the World Health Organisation and the team here, some of the materials we needed, the thermoscans, are available and they are training persons to take over. They are bringing experts in to train those ones on how to organise the points of entry.

“Ebola response is not just a government thing; it is not the Ministry of Health, it is all stakeholders. That is why we have what we call the stakeholders committee in Rivers State; the organised private sector is involved; private hospitals are involved and the government sector is there.”