Ebola: Nigerian Doctor Appeals To US For Experimental Drug To Save Colleague’s Life

A doctor at the First Consultant Hospital, Lagos, Ladi Okubadejo, on Thursday appealed to the U.S. government to urgently send whatever medication in its possession on Ebola virus to Nigeria.Mr. Okubadejo, who spoke at a news conference in Ikeja, said his appeal was aimed at saving the life of his infected colleague, A. S. Adadevoh, and other Nigerians at risk of the disease.

The First Consultant Hospital was where the late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, was diagnosed with the deadly Ebola disease.Mr. Okubadejo said that Ms. Adadevoh, a Senior Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, was one of those who diagnosed and was treating Mr. Sawyer of the ailment when he was first brought into First Consultant.

“She treated Patrick Sawyer because she was patriotic only for her to be infected with the virus. I am appealing to the U.S. government to send whatever medication they have to Nigeria fast to save Adadevoh. She does not deserve to die. So, this is the reason for this appeal,” Mr. Okubadejo said.The U.S. had used the experimental drug, Zmapp, to treat two of its citizens infected with the virus.

Ebola crisis to last ‘at least six months’ – MSF

The International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF, (doctors without borders), Joanne Liu, said in Geneva on Friday that it would take about six months to bring the Ebola epidemic in West Africa under control. She said the situation was like “wartime’’ and required greater leadership from the World Health Organisation, WHO. Ms. Liu, after a 10-day trip to Liberia, stressed that there should be an upper hand on the epidemic over the next six months. Liu insisted that more experts were needed on the ground to achieve this.

Woman tested for Ebola in Scotland

A woman who fell ill at an immigration facility centre in Scotland is being tested for the Ebola virus, health officials said Friday.
It is thought to be “highly unlikely” that the woman, who British media reported is from Sierra Leone, would test positive, a Lanarkshire health authority spokesman said.

The woman was being held at the Dungavel House south of Glasgow, which is used to house asylum seekers before they are deported from Britain. The facility has a capacity of up to 200 people.

“We are currently investigating a possible case” of Ebola, the spokesman said.
“This is a precautionary measure and it would appear at this stage to be highly unlikely the patient will test positive for Ebola.”
The Ebola outbreak has so far claimed more than 1,000 lives in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria.
The medical charity MSF has said the outbreak is moving faster than aid organisations can handle while the World Health Organization said the scale of the epidemic had been vastly underestimated.

UN to feed one million in Ebola-hit countries

The United Nations is to fly in food aid for up to a million people affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

According to the World Food Programme, an arm of the UN, the agency is bringing in its own aircraft to make sure food gets through to quarantined areas in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.The organisation said it would come to the aid of these worst Ebola-hit countries due to the problem of food crisis there.

The WFP Spokesperson, Fabienne Pompey, said, “The restrictions on movement in the most affected areas threatens food security. Commerce is affected; people cannot get to their fields; and prices rise at the markets; so the poorest have trouble feeding themselves.”As a result of the Ebola outbreak, the WFP said it had already started feeding several thousand people in the worst affected areas, including the families of victims who have been quarantined, orphans, old people and hunters hit by the ban on the sale of bush meat.

American  doctor recruited to fight Ebola in Nigeria

An American medical doctor, Aileen Marty, left Miami on Thursday on her way to Nigeria, where she will join a team of experts from around the world to help fight the Ebola virus.Marty, who teaches at the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, was recruited by the World Health Organisation to serve with the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.

Marty is no stranger to Ebola or West Africa. In over 30 years of practising medicine, 25 of them as a Navy doctor, she has travelled the world, visiting 50 countries and treating diseases like leprosy, dengue, malaria and Ebola.In addition to treating patients in West Africa, her work within her team will be focused on threat analysis and risk assessment, areas where she has decades of experience. The fact that the FIU College of Medicine has extensive experience and resources in data analysis, she said, can be a significant asset in processing the information and lead to more efficient containment of the outbreak.

Marty served as commander, medical corps, in the U.S. Navy, specialising in tropical medicine, infectious disease pathology, disaster medicine, and in the science, medical response and policy involving weapons of mass destruction. She attended the Navy War College, where she trained in strategic studies, diplomacy, joint military operations and the art of war. The Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) recognized her as an expert on chemical, biological, radiation and high-energy weapons and called on her to help develop plans, training and policy for government agencies including the White House and the National Security Administration.Marty is one of only 403 people listed in the international roster as a member of the United Nations Monitoring and Verification Team for Weapons of Mass Destruction.  She is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Lagos rejects Ebola trial drug, Nano Silver

The Lagos State Government has declared its resolve not to use any drug  other than the American ZMAPP for the Ebola patients in its custody.The Commissioner of Health, Dr Jide idris, disclosed this to The Nation, exclusively yesterday.As at yesterday, it was still sketchy if the drug has arrived the shores of Nigeria.

Dr Idris said another drug, Nano Silver, being suggested by the Federal Government by a Nigerian scientist is a natural health product and “the state is not ready to take chances with the health of the patients at all.“Should we have access to ZMAPP now, right away, we will start the administration on the patients.

“We are attending a meeting soon with the Task Force on Ebola to know if the ZMAPP drug is available as stated by the Federal government,”Idris said.There was confusion at press time as to whether the Nano Silver drug, which the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said was expected to arrive Nigeria on Thursday actually arrived as scheduled.

Findings by our correspondent yesterday showed that the country was yet to take delivery of the drugs.It was gathered that the only thing that the country had received were personal protective equipment and some personnel who are in the country to train Nigerian health workers.

The country, it was gathered, was still expecting the drugs, which might come in any time next week.Meanwhile, Idris disclosed yesterday that First Consultant Hospital where the first case of EVD occurred would be reopened soon.This, he said, followed the mandatory three rounds of state certified decontamination process.He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Clinic, was shut after the detection of a confirmed case of the disease at the facility.He said the state would facilitate the decontamination process of the clinic, adding: “25 patients and health workers at the facility when the case was detected are presently under surveillance.”.