Ikeja - The Lagos State Government said on
Monday that it had identified no fewer than 59
people who had contacts with Mr Patrick Sawyer,
the Liberian who died of Ebola Virus in the state.
Dr Jide Idris, the Commissioner for Health, said at
a news conference in Ikeja that the contact
tracing became imperative to ascertain any
possible transmission of the virus by the victim.
Idris said the identified contacts comprised 44
hospital and 15 airport contacts, including the
Nigerian Ambassador to Liberia.
He said 20 of the contacts had been screened and
that none of them had so far been found to be
infected with the virus.
the commissioner, however, said the contacts did
not include those he might have been with on his
flight to Nigeria on July 20, as the airline had yet
to release the passenger manifest for
investigation.
“The airline manifest has not been provided by
the airline as at the time of this report and
therefore, the precise number of passenger
contacts is yet to be ascertained, especially as two
flights were involved (Monrovia-Lome and Lome-
Lagos).”
The commissioner urged Nigerians not to
entertain fears about Sawyer`s case as the state
and Federal Governments were doing everything
possible to prevent any risk to the country.
Idris said that the deceased’s body had been
decontaminated, using 10 per cent sodium
hypochlorite and cremated with the permission of
the Government of Liberia.
“A cremation urn has been prepared for dispatch
to the family. The vehicle containing the remains
have also been decontaminated while the
hospital in which he died on July 25 has been
demobilised .”
Idris said that The state Ministry of Health had
designated an isolation ward at the Infectious
Disease Hospital, Yaba, for case management,
adding three other centres were under way.
The commissioner urged residents to report
people with abnormal cases of bleeding and fever
to the appropriate authorities for intervention, as
high fever with bleeding from all body openings
were symptoms of the disease.
Idris also urged residents to always keep their
environments clean and maintain good personal
hygiene as Ebola virus spreads easily in dirty
environments.
Also speaking, Prof. Abdul-Salami Nasidi, the
Director, National Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC) warned against the consumption of bats
and monkeys as these animals had been
established to be the original sources of Ebola.
“This is time for those bat-eating and monkey-
eating communities to be careful now. Ebola
started from the eating of chimpazees. How the
virus got to the monkey, nobody knows yet.
“But this is the time to be careful about the eating
of monkeys and bats. The Ebola threat is high in
West Africa and people should start taking
precautions.”
In a remark, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, the President
of the Nigerian Academy of Science, also warned
Nigerians against the unsupervised burial of
people who died from suspected Ebola case.
He said 40 per cent of cases in high risk countries
were transmitted from victims` bodies, stressing
that an Ebola corpse was deadlier the patient.
On he part, Mrs Yewande Adeshina, the Special
Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, urged
traditional healers to collaborate with the
government in checking Ebola threats by
reporting suspicious cases for the right
intervention. (NAN)

Ebola may Nigeria be hot for you to thrive.