Corpse From Liberia Causes Ebola Scare In Anambra
The Apex Hospital and Mortuary at Nkwelle Ezunaka in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra has been cordoned off due to Ebola disease scare, after the corpse of an indigene of the state was brought in from Liberia.
The staff, patients and all the corpses have been quarantined also.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Josephat Akabuike, who disclosed this yesterday, July 31 while addressing newsmen in Awka said, the measure followed information received by the government that a man whose body was brought back from Liberia at the weekend, might have died of the killer disease, Vanguard reports.
The corpse was brought into the country as a cargo and taken straight to the Apex Hospital and Mortuary, apparently by his relations and waiting for burial. It was somebody from the community who knew the man had died in Liberia where there have been deaths caused by Ebola disease, who informed the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano. The governor was said to have immediately directed the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Josephat Akabike to take action.
According to Akabuike, it is not yet ascertained if the man died of the dreaded disease but precautionary measures need to be taken.
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"We have already contacted the Federal Ministry of Health and we are expecting them to arrive the state any time from now. We are also making efforts to locate the family of the deceased to know their level of contact with the corpse when it arrived the country and everybody who had visited the mortuary will also be quarantined.
"We are surprised how the corpse came into Nigeria and Anambra State. It is shocking to us," he said.
He explained that the hospital has been sealed off pending investigations by experts from the Federal Ministry of Health, adding that his ministry has assembled its health team and got all the preventive materials ready.
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Nigerians were alerted to the deadly Ebola disease last week, after a man from Liberia who had symptoms of Ebola died in a Lagos hospital.
Ebola, a highly contagious disease, is transmitted through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. Its symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.
Source: Legit.ng
