Woman tests positive to Ebola as Nigeria seeks drug from Japan

A medical doctor and a pharmacist who were quarantined at the Rivers State Ebola treatment centre have been discharged, having tested negative to the deadly disease.

They were among the personnel who managed the late Dr. Ikechukwu Sam. Enemuo at his SamSteel Hospital in Port
Harcourt when he became symptomatic of Ebola disease. He died penultimate Friday in another hospital.

The doctor and pharmacist were his workers. They had feverish conditions as high as could suggest the disease, and were
quarantined on Saturday alongside Enemuo’s hospital roommate at Good Hart Hospital where he died. Their test results
were negative and they have been released from the centre, but the ex-Good Hart patient was not that lucky. She tested
positive to the virus and is receiving treatment at the centre.

Commissioner for Health Dr. Sampson Parker, in a situation report he released yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, said the late Enemuo’s sister in-law, simply identified as Chinyere, who was with him during his illness, had been admitted at the quarantine centre. She ran off to Abia State after the death of her in-law, but has been brought back by the Ebola Emergency Operation Committee (EOC). She became feverish in Port Harcourt and was isolated. Her test result is being awaited.

The Commissioner said over 200 contacts of the late Enemuo had been traced and put under watch; 50 of them are classified high-risk and 60 are in hiding. He appealed to them to come out, so they could be monitored for their safety and that of the public. The disease, said Parker, could be treated if discovered on time .

Parker noted that the contacts that ran to Imo and Benue states had been called back to Port Harcourt, but that of Akwa-Ibom could not be reached. He said the assistance of the State Security Services (SSS) in Akwa-Ibom State had been employed to track and send her back to Port Harcourt.

The commissioner said four doctors, eight nurses and six expatriates, all volunteers, are working at the centre while another batch is under going training to join them.
Parker said the Federal and State governments were not relenting in their efforts to ensure that the virus does not
claim more lives in the country. Three medical doctors, including Enemuo, have died of the virus.