Baby with Ebola-like symptoms dies in Ilorin

A seven-month-old baby boy suspected to have Ebola virus infection in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, is dead.

Speaking with the Saturday Tribune in Ilorin on Friday, the senior special adviser to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state on Secondary Health, Dr. Ibrahim Gambari, said the mother of the baby remained quarantined at Sobi Specialist Hospital, Ilorin, adding however,that the baby could not have died of Ebola disease.

It is recalled that the state chairman of the committee on Control of Ebola Virus Disease, Professor Sunday Opabola, on Thursday said there was no confirmed case of the disease in the state as being speculated around, adding that tests carried out on the baby had already been taken for tests at two centres in Lagos including Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

He said the result of the tests were expected to be out on Friday, adding that Governor Ahmed had ordered for test equipment to be installed at the state’s Advanced Diagnostic Centre in Ilorin.

Opabola, a professor of Medicine, who doubles as the Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on Public Health, said that the baby was found with some symptoms which are not exclusive to Ebola disease but also have to do with those of Lassa fever, cholera, malaria and some other diseases.

He explained that the baby had been brought to Ilorin by his parents who had come to the town for a visit from Ibadan after one of those taking care of him had returned to Ibadan from Lagos.

He said that the baby initially came up with symptoms of malaria and was being treated for that for about two days without improvement before his mother was advised to take him to a private pediatric specialist hospital in Ilorin.

Opabola disclosed that the pediatrician medical director of the hospital carried out a clinical assessment on the patient and discovered Ebola-like symptoms such as fever, diarrhea and vomiting of contents that partly contained blood.

He said this made the doctor to make a report of the baby’s case to the relevant government agency for necessary actions.

He also disclosed that the government had decided to temporarily close down the private hospital where the baby was taken to. While saying that though it was not yet established that the baby’s case is Ebola, Opabola added that the government was taking those proactive measures as part of its commitment to keep people in the state insulated from being infected with the diseases. He said that those treating the baby at the Specialist Hospital used Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), adding that ambulance used to take him to the specialist hospital had been dedicated for such an assignment while it is to be regularly decontaminated.

Opabola disclosed that the government had also decided to establish isolation and quarantine centres at the Specialist Hospital and the General Hospital at Omu-Aran in south district of the state and at Okuta in the north district.


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