Kaduna records first Ebola case

From Femi Oyelola & Muhammad Ibrahim, Kaduna  with agency report

There was panic and uncertainty about the case of  19 year-old student of Law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,  who was said to have been  suspected to be down with the deadly Ebola virus within the campus

The Public Relations Officer, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Bilyaminu Umar, while confirming the case on Monday when contacted via phone said the student was diagnosed at ABUTH,

Shika, Zaria, and that he showed some symptoms associated the disease.

“Yes, there was a case of a suspected Ebola patient. He is with the Faculty of Law, ABU, Zaria and will be placed on isolation. I am out of town, but will confirm details on my return from a trip”, he said.

However, in a swift reaction, the state government yesterday debunked the report, saying the deceased has not been confirmed yet, as they urged residents not to panic.

According to the state government, the blood sample of the patient has been taken and sent to a Lagos laboratory for a Ebola test.

Director, Media and Publicity to the Governor, Malam Ahmed Maiyaki disclosed this in a telephone interview with Peoples Daily.

He added that the boy’s case was not the first in the state, saying first two suspected Ebola cases turned out to be negative after a test.

“Yes, I have confirmed that a Law student of Ahmadu Bello University was suspected to have an Ebola symptom. But it’s not yet confirmed if he actually has the virus or not. But  his blood sample has since been sent  to Lagos for a laboratory test.

“As you are aware, Kaduna state has already established a Rapid Response Committee on Ebola virus and we are not taking chances. So, the boy has since been isolated at Shika hospital pending the outcome of the test result from Lagos. By the way, his case was the third and the two turned out to be negative after a blood test,” he said.

Maiyaki said the first two suspects have since being discharged two weeks ago and are now with their family members after proving negative.

“For inquiries on Kaduna Ebola situation, call the toll-free line 07080601101,” he said.

Peoples Daily gathered that the students of the university were on break when the news filtered around on the Ebola outbreak. But some of them spoken with, who were still in school, said they were not aware of the outbreak.

In a related development, the death of a patient, suspected to have Ebola, has caused panic among patients and doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba, Lagos state.

A reliable source, who confirmed this development to our correspondent in Lagos yesterday, said the patient was brought in by members of the health authorities at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, to the hospital on Monday.

According to the doctor, who was on duty when the patient was admitted into the Accident and Emergency Unit, the patient was vomiting blood and stooling, symptoms  which are similar to that of an  Ebola patient, before he died in the early hours of Tuesday at the Spill-Over ward of the hospital.

He said, “They rushed him to the Accident and Emergency Unit, and since he was vomiting and purging and he also had high fever, we quickly took his temperature, it was very high. We were all scared to take his blood samples because we were not wearing any protective equipment.

“We had to take him out of the emergency ward to the other spill-over ward, to avoid any form of contamination. We also reported to the Lagos state government so that they can take him to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba for proper treatment. But he had started vomiting blood by this morning , and few hours after, he died.”

The doctor said that the body has been transferred to the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, for testing and confirmation of the cause of death.

The source said, “Like I said, we could not take any blood sample when he was alive because we were not wearing PPE, and we could not manage him effectively because of the severity of the symptoms we saw and considering the fact that he was coming from the airport. He could have been coming from an Ebola-affected country.

When contacted, the LUTH Chief Medical Director, Prof. Akin Oshibogun, said the death of the patient is still being investigated.

Oshibogun said, “We have been able to establish that this patient has no history of Ebola or any contact with a person that had Ebola. We are only trying to investigate the patient. If there is any new thing, we will let you know.