By Yinka Shokunbi
Early in the year the outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus in parts of Africa raise a lot of fear among Nigerians who became worried that the virus which the World Health Organisation (WHO) says is highly contagious and incurable could be closer to the country than thought, especially with the rate at which Nigerians travel across the West African sub region and cross border migration occur.
Patient with Ebola-virus
Although Health authorities in the country have issued warning signs that people should look out for to guard against infections but the fear of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is still rife among the population especially since it continues to spread in the sub region with casualties standing at 467.
According to the WHO, based on epidemiological analysis conducted by WHO, three major factors are contributing to patterns of transmission, which are currently responsible for the continuous propagation of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the sub-region. These factors include transmission of EVD in rural communities, facilitated by strong cultural practices and traditional beliefs; transmission of EVD in densely populated peri-urban areas of Conakry in Guinea and Monrovia in Liberia; and cross-border transmission of EVD along the border areas of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where commercial and social activities continue among the border areas of these countries.
As of 30 June 2014, the cumulative number of cases attributed to EVD in the three countries stands at 759, including 467 deaths. The distribution and classification of the cases are as follows: Guinea, 413 cases (293 confirmed, 88 probable, and 32 suspected) and 303 deaths (193 confirmed, 82 probable, and 28 suspected); Liberia, 107 cases (52 confirmed, 21 probable, and 34 suspected) and 65 deaths (33 confirmed, 17 probable, and 15 suspected); and Sierra Leone, 239 cases (199 confirmed, 31 probable, and 9 suspected) and 99 deaths (65 confirmed, 29 probable, and 5 suspected).
For instance the Lagos State Ministry of Health in April issued a public statement urging members of the public to observe and maintain high standard of personal and environmental hygiene at all times as part of the precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of the disease in the State.
According to the Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, “These measures which include washing of hands often with soap and water, avoiding close contact with people who are sick and ensuring that objects used by the sick are decontaminated and properly disposed are necessary in order to reduce the risk of infection.
He warned, “Ebola virus can be spread through, close contact with the blood, body fluids, organ and tissues of infected animals; direct contact with blood, organ or body secretions of an infected person. The transmission of the virus by other animals like monkey and chimpanzee cannot be ruled out”.
The commissioner noted that those at the highest risk of the disease include health-workers; and families or friends of an infected person who could be infected in the course of feeding, holding and caring for them.
He stressed that Ebola virus disease should be suspected in persons who develop bleeding from the body openings like the mouth, nose, rectum and ear; a close contact of person who is infected; or health worker who had treated either suspected or confirmed infected person.
“Early symptoms of disease include fever, headache, chills, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains. Later symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could progress to coma, shock and death”, Idris explained.
According to the WHO, some key facts to watch out for in the event of infection from EVD include the following:
•A severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.
•This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
•Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.
•People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory.
•The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is 2 to 21 days.
Since there is no licenced vaccine is available at the moment to treat or prevent EVD, WHO warns that diagnosis should be with caution and must followed the laid down protocol which include:
Diagnosis
Other diseases that should be ruled out before a diagnosis of EVD can be made include: malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
It noted that the Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed definitively in a laboratory through several types of tests: antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) , antigen detection tests, serum neutralisation test, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, electron microscopy and virus isolation by cell culture.
Samples from patients are an extreme biohazard risk; testing should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.
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