Even with the worsening of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following the confirmation of a new case in an urban area, Dr. Ephraim Akase of the Infectious Diseases Department, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, has assured that Nigeria is prepared for the worst case scenario.
Akese gave the assurance in a telephone interview with The Next Edition.
“My answer to the question of whether we are indeed prepared in case the disease finds its way into the country is a cautious yes,” he said.
According to him, I’ll say a cautious yes, in the sense that it doesn’t have a vaccine; if it is a disease that has a vaccine, we can say let’s start vaccinating people, but it doesn’t have. Again, the disease has an incubation period when somebody who is infected can still travel without knowing they have it, but those manning our entry points – the airports and border areas – have been put on the alert. So, anybody coming in from the affected areas will be monitored.”
He said further: “However, on the question of whether we are ready to handle it if there’s an actual case, I want to say yes because we have isolation centres. From the last Ebola outbreak in Nigeria till now, the experience is there, we have places where isolated people can go to. We have more of them now than we did before while the people who partook in the last response have the experience now.
“The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is also a much more dynamic and functional organisation now than what we had back in the day. So, we are more prepared now than we were at any other time.”
Read also: Magu heads Commonwealth Africa anti-corruption agencies
He also noted that the ongoing strike by the health workers’ union JOHESU, though suspended in three states, would not adversely affect the state of preparedness and readiness to respond, even as he acknowledged that there might not be a full complement of staff needed.
His words: “Most of the isolation centres have staff that are on a more or less call contingency. We are not talking general ward management now, this is a special case scenario because those that take care of the sick are specially trained. So, when outbreaks like that occur, because people who take care of that are specially trained, most of them can be mobilised at short notice.”
The Next Edition spoke to a few people on what precautionary measures they are taking.
Master Chukwuma Orji, a JSS 2 student of Jonsong College, Ilasamaja, said they are made to wash their hands with soap once they get to the school premises every morning and after their break period.
According to him, they have also been told to bath three times a day and as much as possible avoid handshakes. He said he had been adhering to all the instructions.
Miss Bekky Shittu, a hair dresser, carries a sanitizer with her everywhere she goes even though she has water available in her salon. According to her, she could not avoid touching people in her line of work but outside of work, she has put on hold hugging and handshakes.
Meanwhile, the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has entered “a new phase” after a case of the deadly virus was detected in the north-west city of Mbandaka.
According to Africa News, health officials in the DRC said the first urban case significantly escalates the risk of an epidemic.
