LAGOS OCTOBER 8TH (URHOBOTODAY)-No fewer than 15 persons have been quarantined at the accident and emergency ward of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital following an Ebola Virus Disease scare, following the death of a patient on Wednesday.
The patient, whose identity still remained unknown, was said to have manifested symptoms likened to that of an EVD patient before he died.
But the UCTH authorities, however, said the patient might have died of Haemorrhagic fever.
Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council, UCTH, Dr. Queeneth Kalu, said the blood sample of the patient had been sent for testing, while identified contacts had been quarantined.
At a press briefing in Calabar on Thursday, Kalu disclosed that the National Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health, Cross River State Government as well as the Department of State Services had been informed of the development.
She said, “On Wednesday October 7, 2015, we managed a patient, who presented with symptoms mimicking viral Haemorrhagic fever. Due to the remote chance of it being contagious, we have sent the blood samples for testing and quarantined identified contacts.
“Further information will be made available as soon as we receive the results of the samples sent for analysis.”
The Deputy Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee, Dr. Edet Ikpi, said all necessary precaution as prescribed by world health bodies had been taken to forestall any eventuality, adding that there was no cause for panic by members of the public.
Ikpi urged the media to be cautious of what was being reported as no case of EVD had been established.
Our correspondent, who went round the tertiary health facility in Calabar on Thursday, learnt that those quarantined were medical personnel and others within the ward moments before the patient died.
They included nine nurses, one doctor, four health workers and one patient.
Source: The Punch