by S’ola Filani
A female student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife may have contracted the deadly Ebola virus. Though the management of the school initially denied the development, the Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Temitope Ilori, confirmed the report, saying the sick student had been moved to the isolation ward in Lagos.
According to Ilori, the student had confessed having contact with the late Port Harcourt doctor, Iyke Enemuo, who died of the EVD after he secretly treated an infected ECOWAS diplomat, Olu-Ibukun Koye, in a hotel in the Rivers State capital.
“I was told that a student of the OAU who had contact with the doctor who died of the Ebola virus in Port Harcourt walked into the health centre when she was sick.
“She was said to have told doctors at the health centre that she had contact with the Port Harcourt doctor and was put under surveillance but she said she tested negative that time.
“Now she returned to the OAU to continue with her studies and was sick. She was said to have walked to the health centre and told them everything about her contact with the doctor.
“Her blood sample has been taken for another test in Lagos and we are awaiting the result. We pray she is not positive but she has been isolated at the health centre.” he said.
The University management also released a new a statement signed by the spokesman of the university, Mr. Biodun Olarewaju late on Tuesday.
“A female student of the OAU, Ile-Ife who is suspected to be a secondary contact of the Ebola Virus Disease in Port-Harcourt, presented sick at the University Health Centre.“After a clinical assessment by the Ebola Surveillance Preparedness and Response Committee of the University, the authorities thereafter contacted the State Ministry of Health, the Federal Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation(WHO).“The female suspected secondary Ebola contact has since been evacuated to the appropriate facility in Lagos for further investigations to confirm her status.”
While emphasising that the student illness was not a confirmed Ebola case, Olarewaju said appropriate preventive and protective measures have been taken.
He added, “In the meantime, the National team and the World Health Organisation team on Ebola Control have promptly decontaminated the University Health Centre despite the fact that the case is yet to be confirmed.
“The University authorities wish to emphasise the fact that the case is not a confirmed case of Ebola Virus Disease and therefore request all members of the University Community to remain calm as the situation is fully under control.”
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