Nigerian Government Calls for Vigilance As Ebola Virus Resurfaces in Liberia

Following the resurgence of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Liberia at the weekend, the federal government on Wednesday urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and adhere to hygienic and other preventive measures to guard against the deadly disease.

Nigerian Soldier Tests Positive For Ebola in Liberia

Ebola Virus

A Nigerian soldier on the United Nations’ peace mission in Liberia has tested positive for Ebola, the Associated Press reports.

WHO Declares Nigeria Ebola Free

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Nigeria Ebola free on Monday, after a 42 day period with no new cases elapsed.

Ebola Outbreak Impinges On Nigeria’s Economy, May Lose N542bn In 6 Months

There are indications that the Ebola virus disease is affecting several sectors of the Nigerian economy, as the nation risks losing over $3.5 billion (N542.5 billion) to the epidemic by December, if nothing is done to contain the spread.

Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane, who stated this in the firm’s latest report, said the fear of the disease had affected economic
activities significantly.

This was even as experts in the maritime sector raised concern that containers volume had dropped slowly, as ships reduced to 16 this month from 26 in July, indicating 38.4 per cent drop.

The report said the sectors that would be impacted the most in Nigeria are aviation, hospitality and tourism, trade, medical and agriculture.
The report, which analysed the contributions of the sectors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), noted that Nigeria might lose about $2 billion in the first quarter of the outbreak and about $3.5 billion in the second quarter, although the chance of the outbreak going into a second quarter is very slim.
The August 2014 edition of Financial Derivatives Company’s report on the Nigerian economy illustrated the immediate and potential aggregate economic impact of the outbreak of
the Ebola disease in Nigeria.

In the same vein, global rating agency, Moody, also announced that the outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria could lead to disruptions in some sectors of the economy, with negative financial
consequences.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak is adjudged the worst to date, affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
On August 8, World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the latest Ebola epidemic to be an “international public health emergency,” which has the effect of mobilising global resources to combat it.

Source:
Tribune

EBOLA Outbreak: Cameroon Shuts Its Border With Nigeria, Suspends Flights From Nigeria

Following the fears of spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) through international air and seaports,
including border land outposts of Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) in the Northeast sub-region of country, Cameroon has closed its borders with Nigeria and suspended all flights to and from Nigeria.

Ebola Outbreak: Nigerian Government Install Infrared Thermal Detectors At Entry Points

The Nigerian government says it has
installed infrared thermal detectors in two of its international airports and land borders all aimed at preventing the spread of Ebola virus.

In a meeting with the diplomatic corps and heads of international agencies in the country, top Nigerian officials assured the> international community of its readiness to contain the viral disease.

The Nigerian government says it is undertaking high- level measures to contain the spread of the ebola virus which is still restricted to one of its cities, Lagos.

As such most entry and exit points into Nigeria are now to have infrared thermal detectors which are meant to detect high body temperatures.
Nigerian authorities also say they are not contemplating border closures or banning flights from some affected countries in the west African region as it will be counter-productive.

The Liberian and Sierra Leonean ambassadors complained of stigmatization of their citizens in
some Nigerian cities and are asking for the government’s intervention.
Most diplomats and international organisations pledged to support Nigeria and ECOWAS countries to curtail the Ebola virus but want African governments to step up public health campaigns.

TV Continental

Nigeria Declares Ebola Outbreak 'National Emergency'

The Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday described the Ebola outbreak in the country as a “national emergency”.

Mr. Chukwu made the statement at an emergency meeting convened by the House of Representatives Committee on Health over the Ebola outbreak in Abuja. He said that out of six Nigerians diagnosed with Ebola virus, one had died on Tuesday, adding that the other five patients were receiving treatment.
The minister said that everyone in the world now was at risk, adding that the experience of Nigeria had opened the “eyes” of the world to the reality of
Ebola.

Mr. Chukwu faulted a report on the curative powers of Bitter Kola on Ebola. According to him, there was no empirical evidence to show that bitter kola will prevent or cure Ebola.
Commenting on the issue, the Project Director, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abdulsalami Nasidi, disclosed that 70 Nigerians were currently under surveillance for the disease.
Mr. Nasidi said that Patrick Sawyer arrived Nigeria about two weeks ago, had 70 primary and secondary registered contacts of which 39 were
hospital contacts and 22 airport contacts.
Mr. Sawyer’s contacts, it was disclosed, comprised officers of the State Security Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, airport support personnel and medical personnel that attended to Sawyer.

The Director, Port Health Services in the Health Ministry, Sani Gwarzo, said that restrictions had been placed on the repatriation of corpses of Nigerians abroad into the country.
He said that this was part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
Mr. Gwarzo said that more personnel were required by the health ministry to man and screen travelers at the country’s several travel entry.

Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Ndudi Elumelu, said the committee reconvened to find out how many Nigerians were infected with.Ebola.
He explained that the committee also sought to know what the ministry had been doing to curb the spread of the virus.
According to him, Ebola is what most Nigerians are currently worried about; measures must be taken to protect Nigerians.

News Agency of Nigeria

Ebola Outbreak: What You Need To Know About Its Spread- New Scientist

The spread continues. The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa has so far claimed more than 670 lives in what is now the worst outbreak of the disease . Cases have already been recorded in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Now it has reached Lagos in Nigeria. Patrick Sawyer seemed to be alright when he boarded a flight from Liberia on 20 July, but was showing symptoms of the disease by the time he arrived in Lagos. He died on Friday.

With Lagos being Africa's largest city, boasting a population of around 21 million, an outbreak there could be disastrous. Many of the residents of the city live in cramped conditions, which could aid spread of the disease further.

So what is Ebola?
Ebola is a haemorrhagic virus; it causes extensive internal bleeding, and can lead to those infected dying from shock. Initially, those infected experience a sudden onset of fever, muscle pain, weakness, headaches, a sore throat and vomiting and diarrhoea.
As the infection worsens, it leads to external and internal bleeding, as the virus breaks down the epithelial cell wall of blood vessels, causing them to leak fluid.

How does Ebola spread?
Ebola is highly contagious and can be transmitted even after those infected have died, because the virus is
transmitted via bodily fluids. It has a 90% fatality rate.
The virus is thought to be transmitted between species: fruit bats (Nature , doi:10.1038/438575a) may be the
natural hosts of the virus, and may be the reason the virus has spread across Africa.

So how are people trying to stop its spread?
Liberia has announced it has closed all but its major crossings and is also quarantining all affected villages.
Nigerian officials are now screening passengers arriving at the international airports. However, such mechanisms vary from simply asking people if they have experienced symptoms to taking traveller's temperatures: no diagnostic blood tests are being done despite symptoms being very similar to that of other diseases.

Daniel Bausch at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana,
who has recently returned from Sierra Leone, says thepriority should be to trace all contacts of the infected man.

"Lagos is not a particularly international link, but nevertheless knowing where these other travellers could be is difficult. It seems simplistic, but logistics of tracing contacts of those infected is more complex," Bausch says.

How far could the virus spread?
Bausch thinks it is unlikely that the outbreak will spread through Europe or the US if someone infected gets on
an international plane to these places. "Could it happen?
I think it could. Would we get sustained transmission? I don't think we would. Screening at airports is important, but we don't have to panic about one case spreading as long as healthcare officials are taking the usual precautions."

Can the virus be treated?
Currently, there is no cure. Treatment generally involves simply relieving the symptoms of the disease.

How long will the outbreak last?
For a few more months at least, says Bausch.
"The key challenges are to stop the spread of the disease is to ensure that we identify all the contacts of those infected and isolate them, although this requires both a lot of resources and a cooperative population," he says. "It is still difficult to put any sort of temporal prediction on this, as you simply can't model all of the factors involved in the spread, so you just have to hope you have it under control."

How are people in West Africa responding to the outbreak?
"It's been a very grim scene in Sierra Leone," says Bausch. "We've really been trying to fight a very difficult situation, but we haven't had adequate resources due to quite a number of healthcare workers infected , which is tough on people's morale."
It seems that there is a general mistrust of health workers in Sierra Leone. It has been reported that a woman who tested positive for the disease was removed from hospital by her family. The 32-year-old hairdresser was the first known case among residents in the capital city. She later died in the ambulance taking
her back to hospital.

Bausch says there are some nurses in Sierra Leone who have been told by landlords not to return home because
they risk bringing the disease back with them. Not only that, but resources are scarce in the affected areas: one ward was reported as having 55 confirmed patients but only one nurse because some were on strike and others were infected.
Despite this, Bausch is optimistic. "Hopefully bringing in more external support in the next week or two will see an increase in scale of support of this outbreak to allow us to gradually gain control of the situation."

New Scientist