It is therefore important to emphasise that there is no Ebola Virus Disease in Enugu. All cases are still confined to Lagos State. Also, reports of Ebola Virus Disease in Abia, Imo, Akwa Ibom and Anambra States as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have all been investigated and none of them was found to be Ebola Virus positive
August 14, 2014 – The Federal Government on Thursday confirmed that a nurse infected with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has died at the Lagos Isolation centre situated at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba.
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu made the revelation in a statement in Abuja. He said she was one of the nurses that attended to Patrick Sawyer, the American Liberian that died of EVD in Lagos. He explained that confirmed cases of Ebola in Nigeria remains 10 with 4 now dead.
He also affirmed that there is no Ebola in Enugu adding that all cases are confined to Lagos.
“Nigeria has now recorded ten (10) confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Out of these, four (4) have died and six (6) are currently under treatment. (It is important to note that the number of confirmed cases remains ten (10) as at today and not eleven (11) as earlier announced this morning. We regret the error which arose from double counting in the process of communicating the additional death from the operational centre in Lagos to the Federal Ministry of Health). The fourth death recorded today was a Nigerian nurse who participated in the initial management of the index case”, he said.
He said the total number of persons under surveillance in Lagos now stands at 169. “These are all secondary contacts as all the primary contacts have completed the 21-day incubation period and have been delisted to resume their normal lives”, he said.
He added that Enugu State now has 6 persons under surveillance since 15 after complete evaluation were found not to have had contact with the nurse, a primary contact of the index case who became symptomatic and tested positive and is one of the 10 confirmed cases.
“The nurse who had been placed under surveillance in Lagos disobeyed the Incidence Management Committee and travelled to Enugu. At the time she made the trip, she was yet to show any symptom and did not infect anyone on her way as transmission of the disease is only possible when a carrier of the virus becomes ill.
“ However, she has since been brought back to Lagos. Before the return journey, she had become symptomatic and had to be conveyed to Lagos with her spouse in special ambulances. The husband is not symptomatic neither is he positive for Ebola Virus Disease but has been quarantined given the intimate contact with her while in Enugu.
“It is therefore important to emphasise that there is no Ebola Virus Disease in Enugu. All cases are still confined to Lagos State. Also, reports of Ebola Virus Disease in Abia, Imo, Akwa Ibom and Anambra States as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have all been investigated and none of them was found to be Ebola Virus positive”, the minister said.
He said that samples of blood for Ebola analysis can be taken to NCDC Laboratory at LUTH, Idi-Araba Lagos, NCDC Laboratory at Asokoro, Abuja, Redeemer’s University Laboratory, Lagos-Shagamu Express Way and UCH Laboratory, Ibadan. He said Nigerians that the Government is working hard to ensure the containment of the outbreak.
