Bodies of Ebola victims cremated in Lagos

Bodies of the four Nigerians, who died of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, have been cremated in line with World Health Organisation, WHO, requirements for disposal of such corpses. The body of the index (first) case, Patrick Sawyer was the first to be cremated on July 25, 2014.The decision to cremate the bodies, it was gathered, may not be unconnected with the deadly nature of the Ebola Virus which is known to be easily transmissible from human to human during handling of corpses of victims.

A health official at the Emergency Operation Centre, EOC, of the Mainland Hospital, Lagos, who confirmed the development, said the Lagos State Government in following strict guidelines for disposal of the bodies, authorised cremation of all the bodies.The official who pleaded anonymity said the decision to cremate all bodies was to ensure appropriate containment measures and guarantee proper handling of the bodies.

“All the bodies of those who died of Ebola from this centre have been cremated. None was allowed to undergo traditional burial because extreme care is being taken to prevent further infections,” the official noted.

The WHO in recommending that people who die from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried, notes that cremation, which is the application of high temperature to reduce bodies to basic chemical components (ashes), is ideal for safe disposal of bodies of such persons in order to minimise further transmission.

WHO nurse infected

A health official with the World Health Organisation has contracted the Ebola virus while working with infected victims in Sierra Leone.

According to a statement by the global body on Sunday, this is the first time a WHO staff has been infected with the viral disease.

The WHO, however, stated that it was not clear how the worker contracted the disease but it would be deploying all treatment to manage the victim.

Congo confirms first two cases of Ebola

The Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday confirmed its first two cases this year of Ebola but claimed they were unrelated to the epidemic ravaging West Africa.

“The results are positive. The Ebola virus is confirmed in DRC,” Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi told AFP, referring to tests undertaken on people after an unidentified fever killed 13 in the northwest Equateur province this month.

“After analysing eight samples taken in the field, the National Institute of Biomedical Research has just confirmed that two of those samples test positive for Ebola,” Kabanga said later on public television.

He said the confirmation marked the seventh outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo, where the virus was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River.

British man begins Ebola treatment in London hospital

Doctors at a hospital in north-west London have begun treating a Briton who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone.

The man has been named as William Pooley, a 29-year-old volunteer nurse, by a US scientist who worked with him.

Mr Pooley was flown to RAF Northolt in a specially-equipped military aircraft on Sunday and taken under police escort to Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital.

He volunteered to go to west Africa to care for victims of the Ebola outbreak which has killed almost 1,500 people.

Mr Pooley was flown out of Sierra Leone’s main airport in Lungi in an RAF C-17 transport aircraft.

Great care was taken to protect Mr Pooley and prevent the spread of the virus at every stage of the journey.

He will be treated in a specialist isolation unit for patients with highly infectious disease, the only one of its kind in Europe.

A special tent ensures medical staff can interact with the patient but are separated by plastic and rubber. It has a ventilation unit that cleans air before it is released into the atmosphere.

Hiding Ebola patients now a crime in Sierra Leone

Anyone convicted of hiding Ebola victims in Sierra Leone will go to jail for two years, after parliament passed legislation making the act a crime. The government says it’s trying to prevent the virus from spreading.