In Port Harcourt Ebola Will Spread Faster Than In Lagos - WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has Thursday warned Nigerians that Ebola virus could spread in Port Harcourt faster than in Lagos.

Explaining the message, the organization officials said that in Nigeria’s oil producing hub Port Harcourt, Rivers State, there appeared "multiple high-risk opportunities for transmission of the virus to others".

The deadly tropical virus first hit Lagos when in the end of July Patrick Sawyer already infected with Ebola arrived to Nigeria. On July 25 the man died.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo Blames Liberia For Sending Ebola To Nigeria

Following the incident health officials were directed to quarantine and check all Sawyer's contacts, which was believed to have been done. However weeks later, when only 1 patient was left in Lagos with the EVD, the horrifying news broke out.

An ECOWAS diplomat who had contacted Sawyer escaped quarantine in Lagos and fled to Port Harcourt, where he was secretly treated by doctor Ike Enemuo in a hotel room. The diplomat recovered but the doctor later started developing Ebola symptoms and soon died of the virus on August 16.

READ ALSO: Man Died From Ebola In Port Harcourt

After the incident scores of people were hospitalized as Ebola suspects in the city, specifically the doctor's family members, colleagues and patients. Currently there are 255 people under surveillance in Port Harcourt.

The statement by the WHO noted that "the highest-risk exposures occurred in family members and in health care workers and patients at the facility where the index case was hospitalized."

Speaking about Port Harcourt in particular, the statement said:

"Given these multiple high-risk exposure opportunities, the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Port Harcourt has the potential to grow larger and spread faster than the one in Lagos."

An elderly woman who was a patient at the hospital where Enemuo was treated, lost the fight against Ebola becoming the second person to have died in the state from the rapidly spreading disease.

Source: Legit.ng