Liberian Returnees Cause Ebola Scare In Benue State..

There was panic in Makurdi, Benue State capital at the weekend, following reports that three indigenes of the state, who arrived from Ebola-torn Liberia, had been placed in a separate room at the Benue State Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, for observation over the deadly disease.

Daily Sun reports  that as soon as the news filtered into the capital city on Sunday evening, residents began to make calls to their relations and friends about the presence of suspected victims of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the state and most drinking and food joints as well as other public places were deserted.

However, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of BSUTH, Professor Orkugar Malu, dispelled rumours that some Benue natives from Monrovia, Liberia, were victims of the deadly Ebola virus disease.

Malu, who had to go on air yesterday to dispel the rumours and later spoke with newsmen in his office, said a couple from the state, who were on missionary journey to Liberia, had to return home when the Ebola epidemic became serious in that country. He stated that the couple had been tested at every point right from Moronvia, capital city of Liberia to Accra in Ghana and Abuja and were negative.

The CMD noted that on arrival in Makurdi, the state had to keep them and the driver who drove them from Abuja to Makurdi in an isolation ward at the teaching hospital as a precautionary measure to observe them and further ensure that they were free from the dreaded viral disease.

Prof. Malu explained that the natives who were resident in Monrovia for a year as missionary workers, quickly relocated from Liberia in the wake of the Ebola outbreak.

“Since some airlines have stopped operations to Liberia, the couple had to take flight to Accra in Ghana, where they stayed for a week before traveling to Nigeria.

“They have not shown any symptoms of the disease because at every stage, their temperature was tested right from Monrovia before they boarded the plane to Ghana and then Nigeria. Since they came in here on Thursday, we have been testing them on a daily basis and there is no evidence of temperature or any of the symptoms of the Ebola virus disease.

“We are 99.999 per cent sure that they do not have Ebola virus. But just in the remotest case of 0.0 per cent, we have kept them to fulfill everything there is to be done to ensure they do not have the disease,” he said.