Another Ebola Victim has died in P-Harcourt. The deceased, an elderly woman, is the
seventh Ebola fatality to be recorded in Nigeira, and the first death in the
new Port Harcourt isolation centre for Ebola.
She was said to have shared the same room with late Dr.
Iyke Enemuo, the doctor who treated the Nigerian ECOWAS diplomat, Koye
Olu-Ibukun at the Good Heart Hospital, Port Harcourt, prior to the death of the
former from EVD.
It could be recalled that the late woman was quarantined
with a doctor and a pharmacist, who were staff of Sam Steel Clinic, a health
facility founded by late Enemuo.
However, following several tests ran on the duo, it was
discovered that they were free from Ebola and were given a clean bill of
health. Though reports say they were still under medical surveillance.
Presenting an update on the status of EVD, in Nigeria,
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, disclosed that the eighth Ebola
patient successfully managed in the Lagos isolation centre was discharged
Tuesday.
Chukwu, who gave the number of cases successfully managed
and discharged in the country as eight, explained that the last case to be
discharged, (the eighth case) was the first secondary contact to be diagnosed,
adding that the patient is a spouse of a primary contact of the index (first) case.
He said: "Total number of cases successfully managed
and discharged is now eight. The last case to be discharged, the first
secondary contact to be diagnosed and a spouse of a primary contact of the
index case, went home from the isolation ward in Lagos yesterday (Tuesday). The
ninth survivor is the ECOWAS Commission official who jumped surveillance in
Lagos and travelled to Port Harcourt where he infected the doctor who attended
to him."
Chukwu who hinted that schools may re-open from September
15, 2014 as last contacts under surveillance may be discharged by then and the
fact that there were no community transmissions in Nigeria, stressed that the
18th confirmed case of Ebola in Nigeria is the sister of the late Port Harcourt
doctor, who is currently on admission in the Lagos isolation centre.
He said: "Total number of deaths from Ebola Virus
Disease in Nigeria is now seven. One is the index (first) case, which occurred
in a private hospital in Lagos; four in the Lagos isolation ward, one in the
Port Harcourt isolation ward, the female patient who was on admission in the
same hospital where the late Port Harcourt doctor was also admitted, while
another one was the doctor who was infected by the ECOWAS Commission official
in Port Harcourt and who did not come under the care and management of the
Incident Management Committee."
The total number of EVD patients currently under
treatment, according to the Minister, is two; one in the Lagos isolation ward
and another one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward.
On contacts, Chukwu said 41 contacts are currently under
surveillance in Lagos while Port Harcourt has 296.
On the positive side, the minister also revealed that a
total of 320 contacts have been discharged in Lagos after they were observed
for 21 days.
No Ebola cases outside Lagos,
P/Harcourt
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