- Title: NIGERIA: Nigeria confirms second Ebola fatality
- Date: 6th August 2014
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (AUGUST 6, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HEALTH OFFICIALS SEATED MICROPHONES IN FRONT OF LAGOS STATE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH, JIDE IDRIS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAGOS STATE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH, JIDE IDRIS, SAYING: "We have been following up a total of seventy persons who have been in primary contact to that person, we have been monitoring. Of these, currently eight have been admitted and blood samples taken. Results of five out of the eight samples taken have been received with four out of the five testing positive for Ebola. The results of the other three are outstanding. Regrettably too, one of the eight persons admitted, died yesterday at 2:06 PM, thus making deaths recorded on account of the Ebola outbreak in Lagos to amount to two, that is yesterdays and the index case." VARIOUS OF A CAMERA JOURNALISTS HAND WRITING (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAGOS STATE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH, JIDE IDRIS, SAYING: "We need volunteers now, very extremely necessary, urgently needed to assist us in tracking the contacts and more importantly to manage those cases that are already in isolation. If you want to give them a chance for life, they need to be properly managed. So we need doctors, we need nurses, environmental health workers, phlebotomists, etc. And like we said yesterday, because this is a very serious matter, our government, Lagos state government is willing to take such volunteers especially in these areas that I mentioned. For whatever reason, we are ready to give whatever it is they want, including life insurance and I will want to assure them of their safety. If they come in they will pull through all the regular processes and procedures for safety." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS AND HEALTH OFFICIALS SITTING AND STANDING
- Embargoed: 21st August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Health,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADQV7GTZX1M8ZNKLID5JQX2VPX
- Story Text: A Nigerian nurse infected with the Ebola virus has died, the second confirmed fatality from the disease in Africa's most populous nation and leading oil producer, the country's health minister said on Wednesday (August 6).
The nurse, the first native Nigerian to die from the disease, had been involved in the treatment of Patrick Sawyer, a Liberia and U.S. citizen who died of Ebola in Lagos last month shortly after arriving at the airport.
Jide Idris, the Lagos State Commissioner for health also told reporters that other cases were being treated at an isolation ward in Lagos.
"We have been following up a total of seventy persons who have been in primary contact to that person, we have been monitoring. Of these, currently eight have been admitted and blood samples taken. Results of five out of the eight samples taken have been received with four out of the five testing positive for Ebola. The results of the other three are outstanding. Regrettably too, one of the eight persons admitted died yesterday at 2:06 PM, thus making deaths recorded on account of the Ebola outbreak in Lagos to amount to two, that is yesterdays and the index case," he told reporters.
Authorities have been monitoring anyone who came into close contact with Patrick Sawyer.
The health minister, while appealing to the Nigerian Medical Association to suspend their over one month strike and return to work, emphasised the need for the volunteers to help control the virus and also to help track down secondary contacts with infected people.
"We need volunteers now, very extremely necessary, urgently needed to assist us in tracking the contacts and more importantly to manage those cases that are already in isolation. If you want to give them a chance to life, they need to be properly managed. So we need doctors, we need nurses, environmental health workers, phlebotomists, etc. And like we said yesterday, because this is a very serious matter, our government, Lagos state government is willing to take such volunteers especially in these areas that I mentioned. For whatever reason, we are ready to give whatever it is they want , including life insurance and I will want to assure them of their safety. If they come in they will pull through all the regular processes and procedures for safety," he said.
The Ebola outbreak was detected in March in the remote forest regions of Guinea, where the death toll is rising.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the outbreak is now spreading fastest, authorities deployed troops to quarantine the border areas where 70 percent of cases have been detected.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed on Wednesday the death toll had risen to 932 after 45 patients died between Aug. 2 and Aug. 4. The WHO is holding an Emergency Committee meeting on Wednesday and Thursday (August 7) to decide if the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern and, if so, what to do about it.
Ebola is one of the world's deadliest diseases, with a mortality rate of up to 90 percent.
The disease starts by causing headaches and fever, and final-stage symptoms include external and internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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