• Isolates two, admits receipt of N200m from Presidency
• Patient tests positive in Rivers, more likely
• FG confirms 17 cases, records six deaths
• 271 persons under surveillance
NIGERIA’S marginal progress in efforts to contain the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is apparently being threatened with the confirmation of a new case in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, disclosed at a press conference after the second emergency meeting of the National Council on Health (NCH) Monday in Abuja that the new case brought the total number of confirmed EVD cases to 17, with six deaths and 271 persons under surveillance – 72 in Lagos and 199 in Port Harcourt.
He said: “As of 31st August, 2014, the total number of cases of EVD in Nigeria stands at 17. The total number of cases treated at the isolation ward in Lagos State stands at 13. The total number of those discharged is seven. The total number of deaths among those treated in Lagos is five, and the total number currently under treatment in Lagos is two and both patients are stable.”
The minister said the three confirmed cases not treated in Lagos were: a surviving primary contact of the index case, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission official who became symptomatic, evaded surveillance in Lagos, travelled to Port Harcourt and infected his attending physician.
“Presently, he does not have viraemia but other laboratory tests for antibodies confirm that he had suffered from EVD. He is under quarantine in Lagos at the moment undergoing further tests to ensure he is totally free from the virus,” he said.
Chukwu said the second confirmed case not treated in Lagos was a private medical practitioner who was infected while treating the ECOWAS Commission official.
“He died from EVD. It was his death that led to the investigation that revealed the introduction of EVD to Port Harcourt and the beginning of contact tracing of secondary and third degree contacts in Port Harcourt. Arrangements are being made to decontaminate the body in readiness for proper disposal of his remains. His death brings to six the total number of persons who have died from EVD in Nigeria,” he said.
The third case not quarantined in Lagos, according to Chukwu, is a female patient who was on admission in the same hospital where the late Port Harcourt doctor was also admitted. The minister said she was under treatment in the isolation ward in Rivers State.
Chukwu said two other contacts of the late Port Harcourt doctor- one of the doctors who managed him and a pharmacy technician working in the late doctor’s hospital- are symptomatic and have been admitted in the isolation ward in Rivers State. “They have tested negative to the EVD but the laboratory tests will be repeated to reconfirm their status,” he said.
The minister further explained: “Now as of 31st August, 2014, the number of contacts under surveillance in Lagos stands at 72 while in Port Harcourt, the total number of contacts under surveillance stands at 199. There is nobody under surveillance in Enugu presently and no case of EVD in Enugu State. As of 31st August, 2014, 278 contacts in Lagos State had completed the 21 days surveillance and have been discharged from surveillance while in Enugu, all the six identified contacts have completed the 21-day observation period and have been discharged from surveillance. No contact in Port Harcourt has completed the 21-day observation period.”
Chukwu said it was likely that a few more contacts would develop the EVD especially in Rivers State before the country would see the last case of the disease. But, according to him, while it is encouraging that so far, all confirmed cases of EVD in Nigeria have their roots in the index case, Patric Sawyer, great vigilance is required particularly at the country’s ports of entry to ensure the nation does not have cases of EVD from other sources other than the late Liberian diplomat.
The minister said the Lagos State Incident Management Committee had deployed a strong team in Rivers State to work with the state government and that as the situation had been effectively managed in Lagos and Enugu, that of Port Harcourt would similarly be effectively managed.
