The fresh outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) underscores the need for other African countries, including Nigeria, to be vigilant and to take adequate measures to avert it.
Already, the Federal Ministry of Health has been mandated by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to beef up surveillance and screening of passengers coming into the country at land borders, sea ports and airports.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said that in addition to ensuring the screening of passengers coming into the country, especially those from the DR Congo, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) may send a team to DR Congo to ensure capacity building as well as effective management of the situation.
The latest outbreak of Ebola in DRC was confirmed on May 8, 2018. As at May 30, 2018 confirmed cases in the Congo outbreak stood at 37 and probable cases were 13. Out of the total 50 cases, there were 25 deaths.
Following the government’s order to beef up surveillance at all points of entry into the country, the Nigerian security, safety and health officials have been deployed to check incoming passengers at the airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.
We urge that the exercise should be extended to our seaports and numerous land borders. There should be nationwide public enlightenment on the symptoms of the disease, where to report new cases and how to access treatment. There is also need for continuing community education and mobilisation against disease outbreaks.
Government should train and retrain our health workers and provide them with tools to manage the disease. Our disease surveillance system should be invigorated in such a way that it can detect any emerging disease threat.
We should reactivate those safety measures that were put in place in 2014 when the disease was imported into the country by a Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who later died of the disease in a Lagos hospital, some days after.
Government should strengthen the nation’s health system through investments, especially at the primary care level, which has the highest disease burden. The government should build more diagnostic laboratories at tertiary hospitals for effective management of the disease. There should be more emphasis on public hygiene, especially the washing of hands with sanitisers.
Public hygiene should be observed in schools, worship centres and markets. The state governments should collaborate with the Federal Government to ward off the disease.
All suspected cases of Ebola should be reported to the health authorities. All those down with unexplained fevers should report to the nearest government’s health facility for prompt diagnosis and treatment.
The Ebola disease first occurred in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, one in what is now known as Nzara in South Sudan and the other in Yambuku, DR Congo. The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak was the highest in West Africa and killed about 11,325 people. According to medical experts, Ebola Virus Disease is a severe, often fatal illness, with a death rate of up to 90 per cent caused by Ebola virus.
The disease is of unknown origin, but available evidence shows that it is spread by fruit bats. Ebola is spread through close contact with infected animals and contact with bodily fluids of infected humans. Most cases of the disease are caused by human to human transmission through contact with the victim’s stool, urine, saliva or semen.
Health workers, family members or others in close contact with infected people and mourners who have direct contact with bodies during burials are at higher risk of infection with the disease. Let all Nigerians collaborate with the government to prevent another Ebola outbreak in the country.