An unidentified South African woman, who
was brought under close watch in Lagos late on Thursday after being
quarantined for the deadly Ebola virus, has tested negative to the
disease.
Confirming
the incident, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Florida International
University College of Medicine, United States, Dr. Aileen Marty, said
the South African was treated for amoebic dysentery, which produced the
symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting she displayed on arrival at the Lagos
airport.
“She is negative (for
Ebola),” declared Marty, who has been assisting with containing the
disease in Lagos since the first reported case earlier in July.
While
also confirming the case of the South African in Lagos yesterday,
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu said the disease had been
adequately contained and therefore there should be no panic over
schools’ September 22, 2014 resumption date.
Chukwu
was speaking in Lagos on Friday at the requiem mass organised in honour
of Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, who died after treating the Liberian-American
who brought the virus to Nigeria, Patrick Sawyer.
He
said, “Our children can go back to school even today. But if they
cannot go back to school today, it is certainly not because of the Ebola
virus because the disease has been effectively contained in Nigeria
already.
“However, we all still have a
big role to play at ensuring this danger is flushed out of our land.
Adadevoh made a priceless sacrifice; her death must not be in vain. The
government has taken due note of her sacrifice and at the appropriate
time this country would honour her,” he said.
According
to WHO, Ebola has killed more than 2,400 people so far across the
affected West African countries with that figure likely to rise to 20,
000 over the next six months if adequate and strategic measures are not
adopted to fight the spread of the disease.
