hope of survival for remaining
patients of the deadly Ebola virus
disease in the country with the
donation of an experimental drug
for treating the disease.
This is even as another Nigerian
nurse who treated the late Liberian
that imported the virus into the
country, Patrick Sawyer, was
confirmed dead yesterday. The
deceased are the Liberian, two
nurse and another Nigerian who
worked at the ECOWAS
Commission in Lagos.
The Nigerian ECOWAS protocol
official contracted the disease from
Sawyer while helping him to the
hospital after he took ill upon
arrival at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, Lagos. He
died last Tuesday.
At a briefing in Abuja, the Minister
of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu,
informed journalists about the
arrival of the drug and confirmed
that another patient had tested
positive to the disease.
He did not name the donor of the
drug. At present, the minister said
the number of persons that had
tested positive to the disease in
the country was 11, including the
late Liberian.
But a statement by his Special
Assistant on Media and
Communications, Dan Nwomeh, a
copy of which was made available
to National Mirror, denied the
additional case.
The statement also confirmed the
death of the nurse, which was not
disclosed by the minister in his
earlier briefing. Part of the
statement reads: “Nigeria has now
recorded 10 confirmed cases of
Ebola Virus Disease, EVD. Out of
these, four have died and eight are
currently under treatment. (It is
important to note that the number
of confirmed cases remains 10 as
at today and not 11 as earlier
announced this morning.
We regret the error, which arose
from double counting in the
process of communicating the
additional death from the
operational centre in Lagos to the
Federal Ministry of Health).
was a Nigerian nurse who
participated in the initial
management of the index case.”
The minister, who did not give the
name of the Nigerian who procured
the drug or the volume that would
be used, however, pledged that the
drug would be used according to
the World Health Organisation’s,
WHO, guidelines.
WHO had last Tuesday approved
the use of experimental drugs to
manage the virus which currently
has no approved vaccine or other
medication for its cure, prevention
or treatment.
The drug from the scientist, Nano-
Silva, the minister said, “is
something that has been used
experimentally on a lot of things.
“The only experimental drug we
have now is Nano- Silver,
provided by a Nigerian scientist;
details of the drug will be
disclosed later to the media,”
Chukwu said.
Experimental drugs are used on
animals and other living
organisms to prove their
effectiveness before getting
approval from the WHO for use on
humans. He added: “More
information will come
subsequently from the technical
people.
As minister, I have just told you
what we’ve done because the drug
is going to Lagos this morning
(yesterday). Let it get there. But, I
can tell you, subsequent ones, the
technical people shall be briefing
you on how they are using it.
“Those things we’ve not decided
because they are going through
committee. They have to go
through it, what dosage to give, in
what format, and so on and so
forth.” Canada had pledged to
donate close to 1,000 doses of an
experimental vaccine to help in the
fight against the virus.
The drug has also only been used
on animals. Another drug, Zmapp,
had been requested by African
countries, including Nigeria, for the
treatment of the virus. However,
experts believe Zmapp, which
seems to be most prominent of all
available drugs, could take about
one month to be available to meet
the present demand of the region.
The number of persons under
surveillance over the virus has
reduced from 177 announced by
government on Tuesday to 169.
During yesterday’s briefing,
Chukwu had said that the new
victim of the disease in the
country was a doctor who refused
to be kept under surveillance. He
said the total number of confirmed
cases as at the time of the briefing
was 11.
“Out of these 11, three are dead.
The three that are dead include the
index case, a Liberia-American, a
Nigerian nurse who was one of
those who managed the index
case, and a Nigerian who was
serving as protocol officer with the
ECOWAS Commission; and who
was detailed to go and welcome
delegates that were to go to
Calabar to attend the meeting of
the ECOWAS Commission.
“So, 11 confirmed cases out of
which three have died. Eight are
still alive; more than half of them
are doing very well and are
actually showing signs of
recovery.”
He said 169 persons were under
surveillance in Lagos, adding that
the number was going down
because all the 169 were
secondary contacts. Eight patients,
the minister added, were in
isolation; and that four of them
were responding ‘very well’ to
treatment. The minister maintained
that the 21-day maximum
incubation period to observe
primary contacts had elapsed.
“We have allowed those primary
contacts who have not shown any
sign of disease to be released. So,
all the 169 contacts currently in
Lagos are all secondary contacts.
“In addition, we have six contacts
in Enugu. As at yesterday, we were
following on 21 of them.
But after a very stringent and
rigorous interview, we found out
that 15 did not qualify as contacts
because people who probably
stayed away from the subject
claimed they were contacts.
There is no more primary contact
under surveillance. “The primary
contacts who are sick and are
being treated are eight; the primary
contact who were sick but died
were two, and, of course, the index
case is late,” he said.
On the contacts in Enugu who
were reported to be 21 yesterday,
Chukwu stated that one of the
primary contacts disobeyed the
Incident Management Committee’s
instructions and left Lagos at the
time she had no symptoms.
“The newly-married doctor, who
was among the medical officials
that treated the Liberian that
imported the disease into the
country, Patrick Sawyer, went to
visit her husband in Enugu State,”
the minister said.
Only two of them, he said, live
together; and when she developed
symptoms, she got alert and went
to a health facility from where it
was reported to the Incident
Management Committee. And
since then, she has been under
treatment in Lagos. She is among
the 11 that are confirmed positive.
He added: “The husband, even
though he doesn’t have any
symptom as at now, he is not
Ebola positive as at now, he is
under quarantine because of the
intimate contact in Lagos. She was
going to Enugu; she did not infect
anybody because she was in-
symptomatic. You can only infect
people when you have symptoms.
“So, the fact that she went by
public transport posed no threat to
anyone.
She had spent days before she left
Enugu. She didn’t infect anybody
on her way. “When you don’t have
symptom, you don’t infect
anybody. But on her return
journey to Lagos, both of them
travelled in special ambulances.
So, they did not have opportunity
to contaminate anybody from
Lagos to Enugu. “Presently, only
six persons are under surveillance
in Enugu, down from initial 21,”
Chukwu maintained
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