NIGERIA-EBOLA/SOUTH AFRICAN Nigeria checking South African national as suspected Ebola case

Record ID: 236865

  • Title: NIGERIA-EBOLA/SOUTH AFRICAN Nigeria checking South African national as suspected Ebola case
  • Date: 11th September 2014
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 11, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF LAGOS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT VARIOUS OF QUARANTINE CENTRE INSIDE AIRPORT VARIOUS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES PROFESSOR AILEEN MARTY PUTTING ON 'HAZMAT' (HAZARDOUS MATERIALS) SUIT MARTY IN 'HAZMAT' SUIT WALKING WITH EBOLA SUSPECT (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, AILEEN MARTY, SAYING: "She has a number of symptoms including nausea and vomiting and diarrhoea, as well as having worked in an area for months since April that has very high level of Ebola which makes her a suspect case of Ebola. So we have to take every precaution, and Nigerians are very, very interested in ensuring that no one else ever enters with Ebola that isn't, you know, taken into isolation and properly treated, nor that they exit Nigeria." VARIOUS OF MARTY SPEAKING TO THE EBOLA SUSPECT FACE MASK/HAND SANITISER/RADIO SPEAKER ON A DESK SIGN READING (English): "PORT HEALTH SERVICES" (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF PORT HEALTH SERVICES AT LAGOS AIRPORT, MORENIKE ALEX-OKOH, SAYING: "Well, the process involves the primary screening and secondary screening. Primary screening, you fill out a health form, you do a temperature and we do physical visual observation, and part of what is on the form has to do with countries you've been in and questions about symptoms, and for her she had symptoms and she had visited two of the infected countries and that was enough for us to move in to take her out for further assessment." AIRPORT STAFF CHECKING PASSENGER'S PAPERWORK PEOPLE WITH LUGGAGE WALKING MAN GETTING TEMPERATURE CHECKED BY AIRPORT STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAGOS RESIDENT, NJIDEKA EZEONYEKA, SAYING: "Well, they've been doing it for a while like in different places even at work, shops, wherever you go to, so I just think it's a way of letting people know that there are checks in place now and at least they are able to get out those who... at least temperatures I see them check temperatures a lot and which is a symptom, if you have a high temperature at least they can just put you aside then keep other people safe, so I think it is fine." EBOLA SUSPECT CASE BEING LED OUT OF AIRPORT EBOLA SUSPECT CASE ENTERING THE AMBULANCE SIGN ON CAR READING (English): "NIGERIA CENTRE FOR DISEASE CONTROL - EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTRE" VARIOUS OF AMBULANCE DRIVER WEARING GLOVES SIGN ON AMBULANCE READING (English): "AMBULANCE" AMBULANCE DRIVING OFF
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADOTTFYJCS7Z3RLAWUUEL9Y7P8
  • Story Text: Nigerian health authorities said on Thursday (September 11) they were holding Ebola testing for a South African national in transit to her country because she was showing potential symptoms of the disease after working in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
    The South African woman, whose identity was not revealed, flew in to Lagos airport from Morocco.
    She was being treated as a suspected case and was being taken to Lagos' Ebola treatment centre for tests to see whether she actually had the virus.
    The traveller, who lives in Cape Town, filled out a health questionnaire on her arrival at Lagos in which she acknowledged suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, both possible symptoms of the Ebola haemorrhagic virus.
    Around 2,300 people have died so far this year in the worst Ebola outbreak on record which has mostly affected Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
    It has also reached Nigeria and Senegal because of sick travellers "importing" the disease.
    Democratic Republic of Congo has a separate outbreak.
    Professor of infectious diseases at Florida International University College of Medicine, Aileen Marty, says Nigeria cannot afford another importation of Ebola.
    "She has a number of symptoms including nausea and vomiting and diarrhoea, as well as having worked in an area for months since April that has very high level of Ebola which makes her a suspect case of Ebola. So we have to take every precaution, and Nigerians are very, very interested in ensuring that no one else ever enters with Ebola that isn't, you know, taken into isolation and properly treated nor that they exit Nigeria," said the professor.
    Marty is working with Nigerian health authorities, under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), to maintain port of entry Ebola checks across the African oil producer.
    The Ebola test is a two-part screening process, explained a health official.
    "Primary screening, you fill out a health form, you do a temperature and we do physical visual observation, and part of what is on the form has to do with countries you've been in and questions about symptoms, and for her she had symptoms and she had visited two of the infected countries and that was enough for us to move in to take her out for further assessment," Morenike Alex-Okoh, director of Port Health Services at Lagos airport, told Reuters.
    The testing process was likely to last a few days.
    Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has instituted Ebola screening, including infra-red temperature scans and symptoms checks, at its airports and ports after a Liberian-American infected with the disease brought it to Lagos in July after flying from Liberia.
    His is one of seven deaths recorded so far out of 19 confirmed cases in Nigeria.
    Njideka Ezeonyeka, a Lagos resident, says she feels safe knowing these temperature checks are being done in various places across the country.
    "They've been doing it for a while like in different places even at work, shops, wherever you go to, so I just think it's a way of letting people know that there are checks in place now and at least they are able to get out those who... at least temperatures I see them check temperatures a lot and which is a symptom, if you have a high temperature at least they can just put you aside then keep other people safe, so I think it is fine," she said.
    The latest data from the WHO show the Ebola outbreak, which began in March, has infected almost 4,300 people so far, killing more than half of them.
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