KADUNA has recorded its first
suspected case of the Ebola Virus
Disease with 19 years old student
from Zaria being put under
monitor at the isolation centre at
the Ahmadu Bello University
Teaching Hospital, Zaria.
The suspect, an undergraduate of
the Ahmadu Bello University, has
been said to be exhibiting
symptoms of the deadly EVD.
Kaduna State Commissioner for
Health, Dr. Thot Dogo, confirmed
this to one our correspondents in
Kaduna on Tuesday.
Dogo said the authorities of the
ABU Teaching Hospital alerted his
ministry when they suspected that
the man started showing some
symptoms of Ebola. He said the
suspect had high fever and rashes
on his body after being admitted
in the hospital for over a week.
“The man has fever and there are
rashes all over his body. These are
symptoms consistent with the
Ebola disease. The blood sample of
the patient has been taken to a
laboratory in Lagos for tests and we
expect the result of the test today
(Tuesday),” the commissioner said.
He added that the outcome of the
laboratory result would determine
further actions, saying the state
government had provided the
management of ABUTH with
protective equipment for its team
of medical personnel attending to
the patient.
Meanwhile, the World Health
Organisation on Tuesday said the
dreaded EVD in Nigeria could be
contained while the Rivers State
government said it had covered
about 96 per cent of the high risk
cases that had primary contacts
with the late Dr. Iyke Enemou, who
died on August 22, 2014 after
contacting the Ebola virus.
WHO’s Country Director in Nigeria,
Mr. Rui Vaz, also promised to give
technical support to the Rivers
State government to ensure that
the disease was controlled.
Vaz, who spoke when he led a
delegation of the organisation on a
visit to the State Commissioner for
Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, said
early diagnosis was crucial to the
control of Ebola.
Describing the global health
organisation as a technical agency
rather than a financial
organisation, Vaz commended the
commitment of the state towards
tackling the disease.
He said, “I will like to highlight
that Ebola can be contained and
we are going to contain it, there is
no doubt. But everything depends
on all of us. It is not only the
responsibility of the Ministry of
Health. This is a cross-cutting
issue; it requires attention, and
the critical matter is the
leadership and ownership of the
process.
“WHO is in the country to provide
technical support. We are a
technical agency; we are not a
financial agency. It is very
important to highlight that there is
a strong commitment by the
governor and the commissioner,
and also other entities. I see also
the high involvement in the
response of the private sector.
“The most important thing in Ebola
control is the early diagnosis of
any potential suspected cases and
takes necessary precautions, in
terms of isolation where it is
needed, and other measures to
stop the chain of infection.”
Vaz pointed out that WHO had
deployed its officials in Rivers to
establish an Emergency Operation
Centre immediately it learnt of the
first case of Ebola in the state.
He said, “Rivers State is an
important economic front in this
country; that requires some
particular attention. WHO as a
technical agency, since the
information of the first case, we
deployed immediately, our
colleagues from Lagos and they
came here and first, they helped to
establish the emergency operation
centre (EOC) and it is already
done.
Parker had earlier told journalists
during a briefing that the state
government had succeed to a
considerable extent in tracing
those that had primary contact
with the late Enemuo, who died at
the Good Heart Hospital in Port
Harcourt.
“As at Sunday, contact tracing was
going on. But on Monday, we had a
report that almost all of them have
been contacted. We now have 96
per cent coverage, which is huge
and which is a good success.
“By now, as we are talking, they
would have finished everything. So,
we are on it and almost all of them
have been contacted,” the health
commissioner added.
He, however, pointed accusing
finger at the parastatals that
managed the nation’s airports for
the lapses that paved the way for
the diplomat, Olu-Ibukun Koye, to
sneak into Rivers State through the
Port Harcourt International Airport.
He said, “If you remember when
this thing started, we were a bit
worried about our point of entry.
You know the airports are managed
by parastatals of the Federal
Government.
“We had issues with them
(parastatals), but with the
partnership of the World Health
Organisation and the team here,
some of the materials we needed,
the thermoscans, are available and
they are training persons to take
over. They are bringing experts in
to train those ones on how to
organise the points of entry.
“Ebola response is not just a
government thing; it is not the
Ministry of Health, it is all
stakeholders. That is why we have
what we call the stakeholders
committee in Rivers State; the
organised private sector is
involved; private hospitals are
involved and the government
sector is there.”

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