by Kolapo Olapoju
Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, the Minister of Health, has revealed that one of the doctors who treated Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-born American who died of the Ebola disease, has contracted the virus.
Chukwu disclosed this on Monday, 4 August, in Abuja, saying, “This is now the second case of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria. This victim is one of the doctors who attended to the patient who brought Ebola virus to Nigeria”.
He also told journalists in Abuja that eight other people who came into contact with Sawyer, and had developed the Ebola symptoms, had been quarantined while 70 others were currently under surveillance.
The minister said, “All those who came into contact with the late Sawyer depending on the level of contact are still being traced and being invited every day and they are placed under surveillance just to ensure that the spread of disease is curtailed.”
However, as opposed to the Chukwu’s figure of two Ebola cases, Reuters news agency quoted a statement released by the World Health Organisation, which stated that Nigeria had four cases, of which three were classed as ‘probable’ Ebola and one as ‘suspected.
According to the WHO, The death toll from the Ebola outbreak rose from 729 to 887 by August 1. The total number of cases in the four West African countries affected now stands at 1,603.
Leave a reply