Ebola Virus in Nigeria
Jul 29th, 2014 by admin
It’s no longer news that the dreaded Ebola virus is now in Nigeria. A Liberian man who died in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos on Friday tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.
Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry in his 40s, collapsed on Sunday after flying into Lagos, a city of 21 million people, and was taken from the airport and put in isolation in a local hospital. Nigeria confirmed earlier on Friday that he had died in quarantine.
No one knows for sure just how many people Patrick Sawyer came into contact with the day he boarded a flight in Liberia, had a stopover in Ghana, changed planes in Togo, and then arrived in Nigeria, where authorities say he died days later from Ebola, one of the deadliest diseases known to man.
Health experts say it is unlikely he could have infected others with the virus that can cause victims to bleed from the eyes, mouth and ears. Still, unsettling questions remain: How could a man whose sister recently died from Ebola manage to board a plane leaving the country? And worse: Could Ebola become the latest disease to be spread by international air travel?
Sawyer’s death on Friday has led to tighter screening of airline passengers in West Africa, where an unprecedented outbreak that emerged in March has killed more than 670 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. But some health authorities expressed little confidence in such precautions.Dr. Adesina revealed the hospital has been put on special monitoring, and all the people that traveled in the aircraft with the deceased have been traced to keep tab on their medical status.
It is therefore necessary to know a few things, as much as possible, about what to do to prevent being infected.
Prevention is very crucial to breaking the disease transmission and overcoming the epidemic.
– Avoiding direct and indirect contact with bodily fluids and tissue of infected persons is the way to go.
The practice of barrier nursing for patients in hospitals is effective, so also is frequent hand washing using personal hand sanitizer.
– Fruits and vegetables must be washed properly before eating; avoid bush meat and even suya, which the source is not known.
– Avoid shaking of hands and hugging of people, at least for now.
Watch children and even adults to discourage them from licking their fingers before washing. Nail biting should be avoided.
– The use of gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment must be used in taking care of ill patients. Proper handling of corpses, which may involve a modification of burial practices, is also a preventive step.
– Contact with body sweat or saliva could be a way of spreading the virus. As much as possible, it would be good to prepare your meals yourself.
There are currently no vaccines for the prevention of Ebola fever though research is ongoing. The reporting of suspected cases to relevant health authorities cannot be over-emphasized.
Symptoms typically include:
Fever, Headache, Joint and muscle aches, Weakness, and Diarrhea. Others include vomiting, stomach pain, and lack of appetite.
Some patients may experience: a rash, red eyes, hiccups, cough, sore throat, chest pain, difficult breathing and swallowing, also bleeding inside and outside of the body.
Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to ebolavirus though 8-10 days is most common.