Nigeria has successfully contained Ebola – WHO

The World Health Organisation on Monday declared that the Ebola Virus Disease had been “pretty much contained” in Nigeria and Senegal.

A statement by the organisation’s regional office for Africa said there had been no new confirmed cases in the two countries since the first case was identified in Senegal on August 29 and Nigeria’s last case reported on September 8.

“On the whole, the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are pretty much contained,” the global health body said.

According to the WHO, there have been 5,833 cases reported in West Africa with 2,833 deaths so far.

Also, a meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Ebola has warned against flight and trade ban on the affected West African countries.

‘Flight cancellations and other travel restrictions continue to isolate affected countries resulting in detrimental economic consequences, and hinder relief and response efforts risking further international spread.’’

Nigeria became part of the deadly EVD on July 20 when the index case, a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, flew into Lagos from Liberia.

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Sawyer died barely five days in the country but not before he had infected the consultant who attended to him at the First Consultant Hospital, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, and some other workers of the hospital.

Adadevoh died of the disease on August 19.

Another doctor, Iyke Enemuo, who secretly treated an ECOWAS protocol official, Koye Olu-Ibukun, in a hotel in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also died of the EVD.

The ECOWAS official who was said to have had contact with Sawyer had escaped quarantine in Lagos and ran to Enemuo in Port Harcourt.

In all, there had been 19 confirmed cases of Ebola virus in Nigeria out of which seven, including the index case, died. Hundreds of other primary and secondary contacts had been discharged from quarantine centres, both in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

The last case, according to the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, left the isolation centre last Thursday.

Only one case of a victim who travelled from Guinea was reported in Senegal.