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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