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Health workers leave after they took a blood samples
from a child to test for the Ebola virus in an area where a 17-year-old boy
died from the virus on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, June 30, 2015.
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The Federal Government has warmed of fresh case of Ebola
Virus Disease in Liberia.
Liberia was certified
Ebola free by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 29.
Although the government
said there was no need to panic, it urged Nigerians to be vigilant and report
suspected cases to the nearest health facility.
The federal government in
statement issued by the Ministry of Health and signed by the Director of Press,
Mrs. Ayo Adesugba, has also placed the 36 states and the FCT on red alert.
The Nation reports Mrs. Ayo Adesugba said
government is reactivating its response mechanism.
The statement reads:
“Nigerians should not panic but must be aware and be vigilant. Members of the
public are advised to observe basic hygiene and report any suspected case to
the nearest health facility. It must be noted that the main symptoms of the
Ebola Virus Disease are fever, severe headache, abdominal pain, vomiting and
diarrhea. Patients in some cases, also have neurological symptoms of becoming
confused and restless.
“To address the
challenges of the development in neighbouring Liberia, the Federal Ministry of
Health is reactivating its response mechanism and increasing the level of its
alert. All state ministries of health and health facilities are hereby advised
to raise their alert level and report any suspected case to the Federal
Ministry of Health.”
A 17-year-old boy from a
village near the Liberian capital, Monrovia, died of Ebola few days ago. He had
no history of travelling out of Liberia and unknown record of coming into
contact with any known Ebola case. The boy has since been buried, but Liberian
health officials are worried that he may have transmitted the virus to many
other people who came in contact with him.
Meanwhile the Voice of America reports President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says while
this is very disturbing as Liberia confirmed two mores case of Ebola, a few days after a
young boy died from the virus but she is confident the country has it under control.
Sirleaf told a group of
reporters on Wednesday that health officials are trying to get to the source of
the newest Ebola cases in her country.
“It's very disturbing for
us. I don't know all the details; but, I am very confident that our
incident management system has the capability to contain this to isolate this
and to keep it where it is so it doesn't go any further,” said Sirleaf.
Festus Tarpar,
information officer for Margibi County where the first victim died, gave
details of the virus’ reappearance.
“At the deceased’s
residence, there were also three other individuals who were sick and the health
team quickly came and took their samples. Results from the laboratory
show that there are two confirmed new Ebola cases. One is still
indeterminate,” he said.
Tarpar told VOA that
massive work to minimize damage has been done since last Sunday.
“The family members as I speak to you have a total of 100 plus contacts that have been established, 55 of whom are primary contacts," he said. "So there is an active case search and finding contact tracing going on in the Unification town of Nendonwein areas.”
“The family members as I speak to you have a total of 100 plus contacts that have been established, 55 of whom are primary contacts," he said. "So there is an active case search and finding contact tracing going on in the Unification town of Nendonwein areas.”
Deputy Health Minister
Tolbert Nyensuah said he was confident in the government’s ability to handle
the situation.
“We are not frustrated,
we are only disappointed…. Our anticipation was we would have
maintained our clean
sheet," he said. "In terms of capacity and energy, we have the energy
and we have the capacity.”
Nyensuah also refuted
claims that the first victim is from Guinea, a country still battling the
outbreak.
“We don’t have the information whether or not this case came from Guinea… What I do know is… it’s a 17-year-old male," he said. "Lives in the Nendonwein community near the village of ‘Smell-No-Taste.… He's a student. He was going to school. He’s a Liberian and not a Guinean.”
In its latest outbreak,
Ebola has killed more than 11,200 people. Close to 5,000 of them were
Liberians. “We don’t have the information whether or not this case came from Guinea… What I do know is… it’s a 17-year-old male," he said. "Lives in the Nendonwein community near the village of ‘Smell-No-Taste.… He's a student. He was going to school. He’s a Liberian and not a Guinean.”
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