Skip to main content

Lagos now has 10 Ebola cases: health minister

(LAGOS)
Nigeria’s Lagos has 10 confirmed cases of Ebola, up from seven at the last count, although only two so far have died, including the Liberian who brought the virus in, the health minister said on Monday.
All were people who had had primary contact with Patrick Sawyer, who collapsed on arrival at Lagos airport on July 25th and later died, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told a news conference. A nurse who treated him not knowing what it was and without protective gear also died.
“As at today, 77 primary and secondary contacts of the index case have been placed under surveillance or isolation,” he added. The latest case was also a nurse who had had primary contact with Sawyer.
“When she got ill, we then brought her into isolation. We just tested her over the weekend.”
She had been at home with her husband, who was also now under surveillance, Chukwu said.
The West African Ebola outbreak is the worst in history and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it represents an international health emergency that will likely continue spreading for months. It said 961 people have died during the outbreak and 1,779 have been infected.
The disease has strained health systems of affected states and governments have responded with measures including national emergencies declared in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
Nigeria faces the added problem that public doctors are on strike over pay and working conditions and have resisted calls by the government to end their strike to tackle the Ebola crisis.
The Nigerian Red Cross said it had provided 18 volunteers to work with the authorities to educate people on how Ebola is spread.
Ebola is one of the world’s most deadly diseases, with no known vaccine or cure. The Zaire strain – the one currently spreading through West Africa – can kill up to 90 percent of sufferers, although in the latest outbreak the death toll has been around 55 percent.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Genevieve is the richest celebrity in Nigeria

In a recent release by Vanguard, Genevieve Nnaji tops the list of the top 10 richest celebrities in Nigeria. According to the list, the actress is said to be worth over N220 million. In the selection process, endorsement deals were the major criteria and Genevieve has signed many deals with multi-national companies in recent times including Etisalat, Amstel Malta, Range Rover Envogue and MUD Cosmetics. Despite being missing from the Glo Ambassador list,  Genevieve  still knocks out big names like Iyanya in 2nd place at N151 by a whopping 69million in second place with N151 million, music group Psquare who came in third with N140million, Wizkid at number four with N101 million and D’banjwho occupied fifth place with N100million. 1. Genevieve Nnaji: N220 Million Genevieve Nnaji is representing or has represented brands like Lux, Cintrion Energy drink, Range Rover Evogue, Etisalat, Polo and Amstel Malta. The Etisalat deal alone e...

EBOLA: Salt Water Kills Three In Bauchi State

At least three people have been reported to have died, while a pregnant woman also landed in hospital, as a result of excessive intake of salt for the prevention of Ebola Virus in Bauchi State.   According to Vanguard report, an old man in Misau local council and three other adults in Bigi , Gudum Sayawa, and Bayara village, suburbs in Bauchi, northern Nigeria, were the victims of the salt intake exercise An unnamed source was quoted to have said that one of the deceased, Mr. Paul Bigi, 74, drank more than two cups of salted water and also rub some on his body after bathing with the salt water as advised by his children. “Less than one hour after he took the salt water, Baba started deficating non-stop and he died in the morning around 7am,” the source said. Also in Gumdum Sayawa, it was gathered that one John Ayuba made use of one bag of salt in one drum of water for bathing and one bag of salt in another drum of water for drinking due to large number of peopl...