Academy Warns of Prevailing Ebola Risk Despite Evacuation of Index Case from Abuja
The Academy of Medical Sciences of Nigeria (AMedS) has acknowledged the evacuation of the Ugandan woman who was diagnosed with the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola Virus Diseases in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The commendation was contained in a statement jointly signed by the President, Emeritus Prof OSATO GIWA-OSAGIE, OON, FAMedS; the Foundation President, Prof. OLADAPO A. ASHIRU, OFR, FAMedS; and Prof. BOAZ ADEGBORO of the Academy’s Rapid Response Committee.
The statement is in reaction to Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor MOHAMMED ALI PATE, who confirmed the evacuation of the forty-two-year-old woman, together with her Swiss diplomat husband, who is said to be asymptomatic.
The Academy noted the action carried out by the Nigerian health authorities is permitted under the International Health Regulations, 2005 and consistent with World Health Organisation practices.
However, while accepting the legitimacy of the evacuation of the index case, the Academy of Medical Sciences of Nigeria warned that the Ebola outbreak was not over, as the source case leaving the country does not reduce the risk among the fifty-three identified contacts, who include health workers and domestic staff.
It advised that each of the contacts must complete twenty-one days of follow-up, adding that the WHO requires forty-two days without a new case before an outbreak can be declared over.
The Academy also expressed concern that the delayed recognition of the index case, about thirteen days between symptom onset and testing, with the patient seen at more than one private facility, exposed health worker and shows a low index of suspicion for viral haemorrhagic fever in febrile travellers, despite a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) declared in May.
The Academy commends clinicians, nurses, laboratory scientists and public health officers who cared for the index patient and brought her to a stable condition. It reaffirmed its declaration of readiness to offer the expertise of its fellows in clinical care, infection control, laboratory science and public health to the national response.
See detailed statement below…