LAGOS – A clinical microbiologist, Dr Philip Oshun, on Friday in Lagos said that the current Ebola virus outbreak was the most severe since it was first identified in humans in 1976.
Oshun,who is of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
His assertion was in response to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) declaration on Friday that the epidemic was an international health emergency.
“Ebola is caused by a virus called Ebola virus named after a river in Congo Zaire, the Ebola River, and it’s been causing outbreaks since 1976. [eap_ad_1] “However in this outbreak in West Africa in over six to eight months the number of cases is more than half of what we have seen in 36 years.
“The total number of cases from 1976 to 2012 when the last epidemic occurred was close to 2,400 and in six to eight months we’ve had 1,600 or more; so, that is why the world is panicking.
“This is why WHO is raising the level, calling it an international emergency, because it has crossed borders, it has entered an urban area and when it enters an urban area, it’s difficult to control.
“Because people are mobile, they move up and down; you can see how Sawyer came into the country and became the first case of Ebola in the country.
“In the other outbreaks, it’s been mainly limited to villages; it’s easier to contain a disease or epidemic within a village than in an urban centre.
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