EBOLA KILLS DOCTOR IN PORT HARCOURT AND MANY MORE INFECTED

AT a time when most Nigerians are relieved that the country has only one confirmed case of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), a new death and 70 suspected cases were Thursday confirmed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

   At a press conference in Abuja Thursday, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said the dead person was a medical doctor who treated one of the surviving primary contacts with the index case, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who defected to Port Harcourt.

   According to Chukwu, the doctor’s widow is now down with the virus and has been placed under quarantine. Chukwu also said that 70 persons that had primary contact with the doctor, who died on August 22, 2014, the widow and the surviving primary contact had now been placed under surveillance.
 The reported death of Enemuo due to Ebola virus triggered panic yesterday at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) where his body was said to be in the morgue.

     The Guardian learnt that the surviving primary contact that infected the dead Port Harcourt doctor was an official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) who had contact with the late Sawyer during his infamous trip to Nigeria.

   The surviving primary contact was said to be on the surveillance list. But he allegedly escaped surveillance officials in Lagos and headed to Port Harcourt where he approached a private doctor for treatment. The doctor in question allegedly did not report the case to the national management team, but successfully managed the case.

   It is not clear if the doctor knew that the ECOWAS official was infected with Ebola before or during the treatment. But rigorous tests, according to government, confirm that the ECOWAS official had the virus but has recovered.

    According to the minister, the total number of deaths from EVD in Nigeria, therefore, is now six, the index case (Sawyer), the four primary contacts who died in the isolation ward in Lagos, and a doctor who died in Port Harcourt whose blood sample tested positive after death. “Also, 70 persons have been placed under surveillance in Port Harcourt,” he said.

   The suspected cases of the nurse who escaped to Enugu are likely going to be discharged today after spending the mandatory 21 days without symptoms.

   Chukwu said the total number of cases of EVD cases so far reported in Nigeria stands at 15. A breakdown shows: The total number of cases treated at the isolation ward is 13; the total number of those discharged is seven; the total number of deaths from those treated in Lagos is five; and the total number currently under treatment is one, and the person is stable and improving clinically.