The federal government has announced that it has successfully treated 11 Ebola patients. In a press conference held yesterday in Abuja, Health Minister, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu gave an update on the virus, he told journalists that all the cases that have been confirmed in Nigeria are traceable to the index case, the Liberian-American, Mr. Patrick Sawyer. He said, “The total number of patients who have been successfully managed and discharged stands at nine . The latest is the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor who was discharged from the isolation ward in Rivers State yesterday.” According to the minister, the nine patients successfully managed and discharged are among the total number of 11 survivors of EVD in Nigeria.” He said at the moment, only one person, the wife of the Port Harcourt doctor is on treatment in the isolation ward in Lagos. “She no longer has any symptoms and is undergoing series of tests preparatory to her discharge from the isolation ward this week.” However, a fiancé of one of Patrick Sawyer’s contacts has been confirmed positive for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) but only has mild symptoms and has since recovered from the illness. ‘He was weakened after the death of her fiancée but tests on the deceased were ‘equivocal’ which revealed he died from Ebola. He was quarantined but was not placed on active treatment,’ the health minster. Chukwu also disclosed that as at yesterday morning, the total number of confirmed cases of EVD in Nigeria is 19; 15 in Lagos and four in Port Harcourt, saying that the 19th case is the fiancé of one of the primary contacts of Mr. Sawyer who died of the disease. Similarly, he said the the total number of deaths from EVD in Nigeria stands at seven ; Five of this died in Lagos, one in a private hospital, the index case Mr. Sawyer, and the other four in the isolation ward in Lagos State. He explained, “Two of the seven died in Port Harcourt, the medical doctor who died in a private hospital and the contact, a patient in the hospital at the time the doctor was also on admission, who died in the isolation ward in Rivers State.” “The total number of patients who have been successfully managed and discharged stands at nine . The latest is the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor who was discharged from the isolation ward in Rivers State yesterday. (It should be noted that the nine patients successfully managed and discharged are among the total number of 11 survivors of EVD in Nigeria).” Regarding contacts currently under surveillance, the minister said that Lagos has 27 contacts surveillance as of now. “A total of 339 contacts who were previously on surveillance have been discharged having completed 21 days of observation.” “Port Harcourt has 477 contacts under surveillance. It is a mixed group consisting of tertiary and quaternary contacts of Mr. Sawyer’s. Five contacts have already been discharged from surveillance in Port Harcourt having completed 21 days of observation.” The minister also addressed the rumoured EVD outbreak in some parts of the country, saying, “In the last one week, a number of EVD rumours have been investigated and all the cases have turned out to be Ebola negative. Specifically, the rumours in Kebbi, Kaduna, Lagos, Lagos, Oyo, Ebonyi, Delta and Sokoto states as well as the Federal Capital Territory have all been debunked.” Chukwu said he inspected facilities for the management of EVD last Friday in Rivers State and also met with experts working at the Emergency Operations Centre in Rivers State, in company of the minister of state for health and Rivers State commissioner for Health, where he inaugurated the Port Harcourt Local Government Ebola Response Team and took off time to address mortuary workers at the UPTH, He said, “I am happy to note that the facilities in Rivers State (treatment center, laboratory and EOC) are satisfactory and meet world standards. The case management team has enough medical and nursing personnel and the morale of the personnel is high.”
