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| A doctor treating a patient |
Worried by the increasing cases of
deaths from the outbreak of Ebola virus in some neighbouring West African
countries, the Lagos state government, recently gave some precautionary
measures to prevent the outbreak of the deadly virus in the state.
Ebola virus is currently ravaging
many communities in some West African countries like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra
Leone among others.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide
Idris, in a statement monitored by SHOWBIZPLUSng, said the measures became necessary with a view to
preventing the outbreak of the disease in the State, listing the measures to
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.
He advised health workers to be at
alert and ensure they always wore personal protective equipment as well as
observed universal basic precautions when attending to suspected or confirmed
cases, and report same to their Local Government Area or Ministry of Health immediately.
Idris explained that “Ebola virus ds
caused by the Ebola virus and outbreaks occur primarily in villages of the
Central and West Africa. The 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 included health workers; and families or
friends of an infected who could be infected in the course of feeding, holding
and caring for them.
He stressed that “Early symptoms of
disease include fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, 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 noted that presently, there
was no specific treatment for Ebola disease, stressing that infected persons
would need to be admitted into the hospital for specialised care and treated in
isolation.
Vanguard - 
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