NIGERIA: United States ambassador to Nigeria says the focus in fighting Ebola should be on isolation and screening to prevent it from spreading

Record ID: 236848

  • Title: NIGERIA: United States ambassador to Nigeria says the focus in fighting Ebola should be on isolation and screening to prevent it from spreading
  • Date: 18th August 2014
  • Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (AUGUST 18, 2014) (REUTERS) UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA, JAMES ENTWISTLE, AND NIGERIA'S HEALTH MINISTER, ONYEBUCHI CHUKWU, IN DISCUSSION GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND AMERICAN DELEGATION LISTENING TO DISCUSSIONS OBSERVERS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA, JAMES ENTWISTLE, SAYING: "Those are exactly what you said, experimental and we will see down the road what is possible but there are not huge quantities now and we think the focus now needs to be on exactly what you are doing, the isolation ward, screening and especially important that your government is doing a very good job on is this contact tracing." HEALTH MINISTRY OFFICIALS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA, JAMES ENTWISTLE, SAYING: "This is an issue where we have to keep working hard, it may be with us for a while but there are some encouraging signs. The emergency operations centre I understand is working well, the isolation ward I understand is working well, so this is an example of where we just have to as part of the broad partnership between our two countries, we have to just keep collaborating and cooperating and working hard." GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIA'S HEALTH MINISTER, ONYEBUCHI CHUKWU, SAYING: "And then on Saturday, early by 5 am they told me that it didn't pass the standards in our national health research ethics code. So at the end they didn't approve so no patient has received it but the bottom line is that we are not using it since it did not pass through the national health research ethics committee." DISCUSSIONS IN MINISTER'S OFFICE
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: International Relations,Health,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACDBVQHKHAQVGREGT2W0P9L2BD
  • Story Text: The United States ambassador to Nigeria stressed on Monday (August 18) that the country should concentrate its fight against the Ebola virus on the spread of it through isolation and screening. James Entwistle reminded officials that the drug that has been administered in some cases was experimental and that there were not huge quantities of it at present.
    "Those are exactly what you said, experimental and we will see down the road what is possible but there are not huge quantities now and we think the focus now needs to be on exactly what you are doing, the isolation ward, screening and especially important that your government is doing a very good job on is this contact tracing", he said.
    Nigeria has 12 confirmed cases of the Ebola virus, up from 10 at last week's count, of which five have almost fully recovered.
    189 people in Lagos and six others in the southeastern city of Enugu are still under surveillance.
    A doctor who had recovered had been discharged from hospital.
    Health care workers in Liberia have administered three doses of the rare, experimental drug ZMapp to three doctors suffering from the virus.
    Liberia, the West African country with the highest death toll from the tropical virus at 413, received three doses of the rare serum in a special consignment last week.
    Entwistle commended the Nigerian government for its efforts towards containing the disease, after meeting Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.
    "This is an issue where we have to keep working hard, it may be with us for a while but there are some encouraging signs. The emergency operations centre I understand is working well, the isolation ward I understand is working well, so this is an example of where we just have to as part of the broad partnership between our two countries, we have to just keep collaborating and cooperating and working hard," he said.
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last Thursday (August 14) it has become aware of products being sold online that fraudulently claim to prevent or treat Ebola.
    The FDA's warning came close on the heels of comments by Chukwu, who told journalists last week that eight Ebola patients in Lagos will receive an experimental treatment called nano-silver.
    Silver has been used as an antibacterial for centuries. Tiny silver particles known as nano-silver have controversially been incorporated into a variety of consumer products such as socks and bedding to help block odours caused by bacteria and mold. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers nano-silver a pesticide.
    Chukwu said the nano-silver drug had been rejected because it did not meet requirements.
    "And then on Saturday, early by 5 am they told me that it didn't pass the standards in our national health research ethics code. So at the end they didn't approve, so no patient has received it but the bottom line is that we are not using it since it did not pass through the national health research ethics committee."
    A nationwide strike by doctors in Nigeria has complicated the fight against the disease.
    The World Health Organization says more than 170 healthcare workers have been infected and at least 81 have died.
    The Ebola virus has killed more than 1,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since the outbreak began in March, and four people have died in Nigeria since it was brought to Lagos by a Liberian man on July 20.
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