7-month old feared to have Ebola in Kwara – We will know if he has it today

by David Cyril

Prof. Sunday Opabola, the Chairman, Ebola Viral Disease Control Committee, Kwara State, has announced that there is a suspected case of Ebola disease in the state.

“The suspect is a seven-month old baby, who came with his parents from Ibadan for a visit at Ilorin,” Opabola said.

He added that it has not yet been confirmed that the child is infected with Ebola and that there is no confirmed case of the disease in the state, as being rumoured. He added that residents of the state should not panic.

Prof. Opabola, who is also the Senior Special Assistant to the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed on Public Health, clarified that the baby, who was on Wednesday suspected to have been infected with Ebola, was found with some symptoms, which he said are not exclusive to Ebola disease.

Opabola said that the baby initially manifested symptoms of malaria, and after treating him for about two days without improvement, his mother was advised to take him to a private paediatric specialist hospital in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

He added that after a clinical assessment on the patient by the medical director of the hospital, the baby was diagnosed with Ebola-like symptoms, such as fever, diarrhoea and vomiting of contents that partly contained blood. The doctor consequently made a report of the baby’s case to the relevant government agency for necessary actions; as a result of which, the government has temporarily closed down the private hospital where the baby was initially admitted

He said, “The state government immediately took the baby to the Specialist Hospital at Sobi in Ilorin, for proper attention, and samples from the patient had already being taken for tests at the University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, and another unnamed testing centre in Lagos.”

“Results of the tests are expected to be ready on Friday (today),” he added.

The ambulance used to take him to the hospital is to be regularly decontaminated. The ambulance, he said, has been dedicated to conveying possible Ebola patients.

 

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