Nigeria has its first good news about Ebola in the country.
One of those infected by the late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer has pulled out of danger and subsequently discharged from hospital.
The lucky survivor is a female victim involved in the index case of the Ebola patient, Patrick Sawyer at First Consultant Hospital,Obalende,Lagos.
Five other infected persons are said to be responding to treatment and stand a chance of also pulling through.
“She was among the confirmed cases of EVD in Nigeria. It is gladdening that she is now free of the disease,” Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said last night in Lagos in an update on the Ebola disease.
But he did not name the discharged patient.
He added: “At present, five of the patients have almost fully recovered.”
He said the lucky patient had been allowed home from the quarantine unit of the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
The minister was silent on the manner of treatment the patient received and if there was any drug used.
He simply said: “We kept to international standard of managing the case and we are happy she was screened and re-screened over the stipulated period by World Health Organisation (WHO) and confirmed free of any trace of Ebola virus.”
The minister with whom was the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, said the discharged patient had been given a clean bill of health to go home.
“ I have consulted with the experts, and they say clearly that there is a discharge protocol that was employed for this particular patient. It has been followed strictly and was concluded todayý and what you are getting now is the final outcome. Ordinarily, if she had been afflicted with another illness she would have been discharged long before now.”
According to him, the total number of confirmed cases of EVD in the country now stands at12, with four deaths and 189 under surveillance in Lagos and six in Enugu.
On the welfare of the Ebola patients, the minister said those receiving treatment have been moved to the new 40 bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos state government. Additional equipment has been provided by the Federal Government at the isolation ward.
He also said that the controversial drug –Nano Silver- will not be administered on any patient in Nigeria as it does not meet the requirement stipulated by the National Health Research Ethics Committee.
His words:”You will recall that last Thursday. I announced that we were ready to deploy an experimental drug, Nano Silver, until it was cleared by the National Health Research Research Ethics Committee.
“Although the drug has since last Thursday been made available to the EOC in Lagos. It has not been administered to any patient because we were awaiting clearance by ýthe National Health Research Ethics Committee.
“I regret to inform you that the drug did not meet the requirements of the National Health Research Ethics Code. Accordingly, approval for its use was withheld by the National Health Research Ethics Committee.”
He, however, said the other nominee drugs are currently under evaluation by the Treatment Research Group for EVD.
“As soon as any of the experimental drugs ýis cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee, and issue available we shall incident if in the treatment regeneration subject to the informed consent of the patient,” he said.
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