Rivers State last Friday recorded its first casualty of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease as a doctor who treated an ECOWAS staff, a primary contact of the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, died of the virus.
With the doctor’s death, the number of casualty of the EVD in the country is now six.
The doctor’s case was not managed by the government team as it was only made known after his death.
The ECOWAS staff who had since returned to Lagos has been brought under surveillance.
Presently, 70 people have been placed under surveillance in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. The result of the test conducted on the wife of the doctor is being expected later on Thursday.
The unnamed doctor, according to Sahara Reporters, secretly treated a diplomat who had contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the virus to Nigeria. The doctor reportedly died on Friday, while his wife had also taken ill and now quarantined in Port Harcourt.
The diplomat treated by the doctor is still alive, the report said.
The diplomat is believed to be among those who met Mr. Sawyer on his arrival in Lagos. He then flew to Port Harcourt where he took ill. He was treated at an unnamed hotel in the Rivers state capital, an official said. The doctor’s hospital, Good Heart Hospital, as well as the hotel where he treated the diplomat, have been shut down, reports say.
The ECOWAS staff who is a Nigerian, according to Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, evaded government surveillance team in July and traveled out of Lagos to Port Harcourt, where he was said to have consulted with the doctor.
The minister, however, assured the people of Rivers that there was no cause for panicking as the government is on top of the situation.
He assured residents of the state that government was going to handle the case just as it did with Lagos.
The minister also pleaded with those under observation to stick to the simple instruction, stressing that early detection has been very helpful in containing the disease.
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