#Ebola Updates

 Panic as S/African exhibits Ebola-like symptoms at Lagos Airport

THERE was confusion at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Thursday, when port health officials isolated a female passenger who exhibited symptoms of the Ebola virus disease.

Trouble started when the passenger, who arrived the airport aboard Royal Air Maroc from Casablanca, was said to have manifested symptoms of the disease.

The passenger, identified as Folswe Elizabeth Maria, was tested and referred to the Lagos Mainland Hospital, to ascertain her status.

As of the time of filing this report, her status was not yet ascertained.

The development created panic among passengers and other airport users at the time.

Sources, however, said the suspect had passed through all the normal processes, including the Nigeria Immigration Service and moved to the transit lounge of the terminal to have some drinks when she took ill.

The source added that immediately the personnel screened her with the infra-red thermometer, it confirmed that the transit passenger had high temperature, one of the symptoms of Ebola.

She was instantly isolated and taken out of the airport by one of the ambulances.

Ebola: Gates Foundation pledges $50 million

 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $50 million on Wednesday to support emergency efforts to contain West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, which has already killed almost 2,300 people in the worst outbreak of the virus in history.

The U.S.-based philanthropic foundation said it would release funds immediately to U.N. agencies and international organizations to help them buy supplies and scale up the emergency response in affected countries.

It will also work with public and private sector partners to speed up to development of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics that could be effective in treating Ebola patients and preventing further spread of the hemorrhagic fever-causing virus.

“We are working urgently with our partners to identify the most effective ways to help them save lives now and stop transmission of this deadly disease,” Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the Foundation’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show the Ebola outbreak, which began in March, has infected almost 4,300 people so far, killing more than half of them.

The deadly viral infection is raging in three countries – Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone – and has also spread into neighboring Nigeria and Senegal.

The WHO said on Tuesday the Ebola death toll jumped by almost 200 in a single day to at least 2,296 and is already likely to be higher than that. It has previously warned that the epidemic is growing “exponentially” and there could be up to 20,000 cases in West Africa before it is brought to a halt.

Chris Elias, the Gates Foundation’s head of global development, said in a telephone interview the group would be assessing over coming days where funds could be best spent.

Some would go to the most acute and immediate needs, he said, and some would be put towards more longer-term research into treatments and ways of preventing future outbreaks.

“The spread of this disease has really happened because of the very weak health systems in these very poor countries,” he said. “We need to be thinking how we can build up those health services, how we train healthcare workers, and how we make sure they have the equipment they need to do their jobs.”

The Gates money comes after the British government and the Wellcome Trust medical charity last month pledged 6.5 million pounds ($10.8 mln) to speed up research on Ebola, a disease for which there is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine.

The WHO has backed the use of untested drugs, as long as conditions on consent are met, and is hoping for improved supplies of experimental medicines by the end of the year.

Britain’s minister for international development, Justine Greening, welcomed the Gates support, saying the “serious health, social and economic risks posed by one of the worst outbreaks of the disease require the entire international community to do more to assist”.

The Gates Foundation – set up by the billionaire founder of Microsoft Bill Gates to fight disease and poverty in poor countries – has already committed more than $10 million to fight the Ebola outbreak, including $5 million to the WHO for emergency operations and research and development assessments and $5 million to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to support efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

In its statement, the foundation said it would also give an extra $2 million immediately to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support incident management, treatment, and health care system strengthening.

 OAU female student tests negative —VC •Bars Liberian students from resuming

 

Controversy generated by case of an Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, female student, who was rumoured to have contracted Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was, on Thursday, finally laid to rest, as the vice chancellor of the institution, Professor Bamitale Omole, disclosed that confirmatory test proved she was negative.OAU female student tests negative —VC •Bars Liberian students from resuming

Addressing a press conference, on Thurday in his office,  Professor Omole also hinted that as part of the proactive measures to checkmate the spread of the dreaded disease, Liberian students, undergoing educational programmes in the university had been barred from resuming.

According to him, “sequel to an earlier release on a female student of OAU, who was suspected to have been a secondary contact with EVD patient and subsequently sent to Ebola Isolation Centre in Lagos for further clinical and laboratory investigation, the university authorities are happy to announce that the result of the preliminary and confirmatory tests proved negative.”

While declaring that “this university is EVD-free, Omole emphasised that “everyone is enjoined to go about their business freely, without fear or panic.

“However, as prevention is better than cure, members of the university community are advised to maintain standard hygienic precautionary measures as established by the University Ebola Surveillance Committee.”

He said there was a synergy between the institution and National Ebola Disease Surveillance Committee to tackle the menace of the scourge, stressing that “immediately we had the suspected case, we informed the Minister for Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, who deployed personnel and ambulance to evacuate the female student to Lagos State.”

On the need to monitor students from neigbhouring African countries studying in the institution, Omole maintained that “we communicated them, especially, students from Liberia not to resume and they have complied,” adding that “EVD scare in OAU is a rumour, which should be discountenanced by the public.”

He, however, contended that “OAU is very proactive on EVD. We decided as a management that we should not wait to have a case before we act.

“In this regard, we procured infrared guns to screen students coming into the campus. We are also collaborating with the World Health Organisation (WHO), which decontaminated our health centre when the issue came up.

“The female student is still in Lagos. She would resume soon because nothing bars or restricts her from resuming for her academic studies. We want to allay fears of parents and guardians over the development and to clarify that no parent had come to our campus to take their sons and daughters away over the development.”

Sources: Reuters , Tribune