Ebola: Port Harcourt records first death

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola death outside Lagos; a doctor in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said the doctor had died on August 22nd, but the results of the tests have only just been made public.

The medical doctor had treated a staff of the ECOWAS office in Lagos, under surveillance, who escaped to Port Harcourt.

About 70 people are now under
surveillance in the city, while his wife, who has shown similar symptons, has been put under quarantine.

The Minister explained that the ECOWAS staff was a primary contact of the index case, the Late Patrick Sawyer, and that even though he does not presently have EVD, a further laboratory tests indicated that he had suffered the deadly disease.

He said the ECOWAS staff, actually evaded the surveillance team in the last week of July and travelled out to Port Harcourt.

He said it was at the oil-rich city that the man consulted a doctor and was apparently treated for some symptoms.

The Minister added that the ECOWAS staff returned to Lagos after four days. He said, a test that was conducted on him showed that he was negative and no symptoms of EVD was found in him. However, the minister said that he had developed antibodies which indicated that he had had the disease but had been healed.

Chukwu said, “This case would have
been of no further interest since he had completed the 21 days of surveillance without any other issue, but for the fact that the doctor who treated him died last Friday, 22nd August, 2014.

    “Following the report of this
     death by the doctor’s widow the
     next day, the case had been
     thoroughly investigated and
     laboratory analysis showed that
     this doctor died from EVD."

    “As a result, several contacts
     have now been traced,
     registered and placed under
     surveillance. However, because
     the widow is now symptomatic,
     she has been quarantined
     pending the outcome of
     laboratory tests on her.”

The minister added that the Incident Management Committee had already deployed a very strong team to Port Harcourt to work with the health authorities of Rivers State.