Another Ebola Patient Survives, Discharged from Lagos Isolation Centre

Medical doctors attending to Ebola Virus patient in hospital

September 3, 2014 – Another patient infected with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) who has been in isolation at the Yaba Mainland Hospital, Lagos has been discharged.

Minister for Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu who made the announcement in Abuja, said the patient who is a spouse of a primary contact to the index case was discharged yesterday (Tuesday).

He said that till date eight people have been treated and discharged from the isolation centre in Lagos adding that the ninth survivor was the ECOWAS Commission official who jumped surveillance in Lagos and travelled to Port Harcourt where he infected the doctor who attended to him.

He said the total number of EVD patients currently under treatment is two (2), one in the Lagos isolation ward and another one (1) in the Port Harcourt isolation ward.

The minister explained that the total number of contacts currently under surveillance in Lagos is forty one (41), while Port Harcourt has two hundred and fifty five (255) bringing the total number under surveillance in Nigeria to 296.

He put the total number of contacts discharged in Lagos after they were observed for 21 days at 320 adding that total number of confirmed Ebola cases in Nigeria now stands at 18. He identified the 18th confirmed case as the sister of the late Port Harcourt doctor.

The minister noted that the total number of deaths from Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria is now seven (7). “One (1), the index case, occurred in a private hospital in Lagos, four (4) in the Lagos isolation ward, one (1) in the Port Harcourt isolation ward (the female patient who was on admission in the same hospital where the late Port Harcourt doctor was also admitted), while another one (1) was the doctor who was infected by the ECOWAS Commission official in Port Harcourt and who did not come under the care and management of the Incident Management Committee”,, he said.

The minister also debunked rumours of EVD cases outside Lagos and Port Harcourt. These include the three (3) reported cases in the Federal Capital Territory and one case in Calabar. The minister further debunked the story that the body of the late Port Harcourt doctor was transported to Edo or Delta State, saying the body has been decontaminated and will be interred in Port Harcourt.

Regarding the rumoured case in Zaria, the minister said the blood sample of the suspect has been sent for Ebola testing.