From: JUDEX OKORO, Calabar

A serving National Youth Service Corps member in Cross River, Mr. Onwuegbuzie Stanley-Samuel, has died of Lassa fever disease at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).

The deceased with NYSC No CR/16B/2098, was serving in Community Secondary School, Ofodua, Obubra LGA.

Briefing newsmen about the incident yesterday in Calabar, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Inyang Asibong, said the deceased was first admitted at the General Hospital in Obubra Local Government Area, where he was doing his primary assignment.

Asibong said the corps member was receiving treatment for cerebral malaria after he was admitted at the General Hospital for one week, adding that after his condition worsened, he was brought unconscious to UCTH for further treatment.

She said result of further diagnosis of the deceased at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Benin confirmed that it was a case of Lassa fever.

The commissioner said: “The incident started about two weeks ago in Obubra; and we all know that the incubation period of Lassa fever is between three and 21 days. The deceased is an indigene of Delta State. The last time he travelled to his home in Lagos State was during the Christmas period in December 2016 and he came back to Cross River in January 2017.

“The deceased was living in the corps members lodge in Obubra and since he came back in January, he has not left that community. Unfortunately, we finally lost him yesterday (May 11) after a diagnosis of Lassa fever was made and from samples we took from him and sent to Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.

“Sadly, the corps member contacted the disease in Cross River following the scientific duration of stay in the state, since he came back from Lagos state.”

Speaking on the matter, the Cross River Coordinator, World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Thompson Igbu, said the organisation has been working closely with the state Ministry of Heath to curb further spread of the disease.

Igbu said: “Over 15 persons have been line-listed from Obubra including the corps members living in the lodge. We have line-listed over 15 persons in Obubra, who are `primary contact’ and the hospital where the deceased was first admitted has also been line-listed. We are supporting the state with essential drugs and we are making sure that necessary steps are taken to curb further spread of the disease’’, he said.

 

…Ebola kills 3

An Ebola epidemic has been declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo after it was revealed that the killer virus left several dead.

The World Health Organisation confirmed three people had died in the northeastern part of that country yesterday.

A spokesperson from the WHO said the latest outbreak is being taken, ‘very seriously’ after announcing the first death.

The announcement comes after the deadly virus swept across much of West Africa in 2014 and 2015, leaving thousands dead.

Many British aid agencies volunteered to help stop the spread of the virus, including nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, who was left critically ill by the deadly disease.

The outbreak was confirmed from tests on nine people who came down with a hemorrhagic fever in Bas-Uele province in the northeast of the country on or after April 22.

The last outbreak of Ebola in Congo was in 2014 and dozens of people died.

Ebola is an RNA virus, similar to HIV and influenza, and as such it has a high rate of mutation.

People can only catch Ebola by coming into contact with the bodily fluids – urine, vomit, diarrhoea – of an infected individual.

It is not an airborne disease, and as such cannot be transmitted through infected people coughing or breathing in open spaces.