Abdullahi Umar, By Aronke Olayiwola, Okechukwu Obeta

Saudi Arabia has announced a ban on hajj visa for citizens of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, after the countries recorded Ebola infection, the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reports.

The Saudi Ministry of Health has said that it has deployed medical experts to the country’s seaport and airport to screen the intending pilgrims to the holy land.

The concerned bodies in the country have been requested to stop issuing visas to people from Guinea and Liberia because of the risk of the disease and its easy spreading among crowds.

The ministry also said that it has quarantined its national in a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to undergo Ebola test as a result illness after he returned from Sierra Leone.

Saudi Arabia attracts annually millions of visitors for religious tourism, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina could be with high potential of contagious disease transmission.

 

Lagos begins contact tracing on infected Nigerian female doctor

The Lagos State government on Tuesday said it had commenced the process of tracing the primary and secondary contacts of the Nigerian female doctor who contracted Ebola virus disease (EVD) from the late Patrick Sawyer to curb the spread of the disease.

The state government through the commissioner for health, Dr Jide Idris, made the disclosure while briefing journalists at Bagauda Kalto Press Centre, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, on the update of Ebola outbreak in Lagos. He dispelled the rumour making the rounds that the infected Nigerian female doctor was dead.

Idris said the contact tracing is one of the necessary precautionary measures needed to curb the spread of the deadly disease, counselling members of the public to be vigilant especially with regards to relating with people who are ill.

He said, “Contact tracing is essential and very important to stop the spread of Ebola virus disease. In the case of the newly infected person, we have contacted her family and have opened comprehensive lists of both primary and secondary contacts of the newly infected person.

“There is no panic as long as basic precautionary measures such as hand washing, adoption of appropriate waste management and enhanced personal/environmental hygiene are adhered to. This is a call for everyone to be vigilant, especially with regard to relating with people who are ill.”

As government takes proactive measures to avert rapid spread, Idris appealed to health workers to reconsider their decision to continue with the ongoing strike actions, saying it will be more difficult to control the spread of the disease if indigenous health workers shy away from helping the suspected and infected cases.

“While appreciating the various health workers who have selflessly committed to this cause in the areas of contact tracing, case management, decontamination etc, this is a clarion call for all volunteer health workers – doctors, nurses, environmental health workers, phlebotomists – to complement our workforce.

“I appeal to striking doctors to return to work and to other health workers to sheathe their swords and embrace team work. We also count on the cooperation of the good people of Lagos State as your government, in partnership with the federal government, may need to in the course of taking decisions in the overriding interest of the public.”

The commissioner harped on the mode of transition of the disease: the disease can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, and, until an infected person becomes seriously sick of the virus, he or she is not infectious.

“We need to again highlight the mode of transmission of Ebola virus disease. Once a person is infected with Ebola, the disease is transmissible through direct contact with broken skin, mucous membrane and secretions of an infected person or through direct contact with materials and surfaces that have been contaminated by the infected person.

“This is a call for vigilance as human-to-human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill from Ebola virus through body fluids such as urine, stool, saliva, breast milk and semen,” he said.

 

US medical mission boycotts 2 Anambra communities over Ebola virus rumour

Two communities in Anambra State have been boycotted by a United States of America-based medical team currently in the state on a medical mission.

President of the umbrella body of Anambra State indigenes resident in America, ASA-USA, Professor Allison Anadi, who is heading the team of medical experts, told newsmen yesterday at Enugu-Ukwu Civic Centre where the medical team was attending to people with medical cases, that his team would not visit Nkwelle-Ezunaka community in Oyi local government area and Nando in Anambra East local government area because of the rumour of victims of Ebola virus in the areas.

He, however, stated that the most prevalent health challenges among the people of the state, from their record since they started the medical mission about 12 years ago, included vision problem, diabetes and hypertension, adding that within the period the medical team, which visits annually, had visited about 90 out of the 178 communities in the state and had attended to over 900, 000 people.

Reacting on the rumour making the rounds that the corpse of an indigene of the state resident in Liberia who was allegedly killed by an Ebola virus was recently brought home to the state, the ASA-USA leaders said though he could not confirm the rumour to be true, he stated: “To be on a safe side, members of my exco (executive) have decided to stay away from those geographical areas until the rumour about the spread of Ebola virus is investigated and cleared by the government.”

Commending the effort of both the state and federal governments in providing medical services to the people, Anadi, however, noted that due to limited resources, including medical facilities, funds and manpower vis-a-vis the level of health challenges among the people, his association considered it imperative to assist the government, hence the essence of the introduction of the provision of the annual medical services to the people.

He even pledged the commitment of his association in carrying out research towards tackling the Ebola virus to ensure that it does not ravage the people of the state.

Meanwhile, the state governor, Chief Willie Obiano, had said, about two days after the rumour, denied that the person was a victim of the Ebola virus, adding, however that a team of medical experts would soon visit the state to investigate the rumour.

A member of the ASA-USA team, Chief Tony Idigo, however stated that the mission of ASA-USA medical mission was to assist in improving the health status of the people, especially the less privileged, stating that the medical services, including the drugs, were provided free to the beneficiaries.


Source: Leadership