#10,605
It’s a story that several of us in Flublogia have been following for 12 hours or more, but the details have been scant and the sources not exactly `official’, so I’ve been holding off until we could get some decent corroboration.
In the past hour, NEMA Nigeria (The Nigerian Emergency Management Agency) has tweeted the story (see above), lending credence to the reports we’ve been seeing.
It should be emphasized that there are a number of diseases that are endemic to the region that can present with `hemorrhagic’ symptoms, of which Ebola is just one. Right now, Ebola is merely suspected.
Other possibilities include Marburg Virus, CCHF (Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever), Rift Valley Fever, Lassa or one of the other arenaviruses, or possibly even dengue . We should know more in the next 12-24 hours, once test results are back.
The most recent report from The Vanguard follows:
Ebola scare hits Nigeria again, 10 quarantined in Calabar
on October 08, 2015 / in News 5:41 pm
University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH, has quarantined ten persons following the death of a patient in the hospital on Wednesday with symptoms suspected to be Ebola virus.
Dr. Queeneth Kalu, Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee of the hospital who made the revelation on Thursday in Calabar while addressing pressmen said blood samples have been sent to the Ebola Diagnosing Centre in Benin Edo State.
“On Wednesday, 7th October, 2015, we managed a patient who presented with symptoms mimicking viral hemorrhage (Ebola Virus) and have decided to take the necessary measures”.
Dr. Kalu stated that those quarantined are principally nurses who attended to the patient and those who came in contact with him before his death.
‘”The following have been informed: National Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health, The Cross River State Government, Calabar Municipality, and the Department of State Security Services, DSS”
She said further information will be provided to the public as soon as the test results of blood samples sent for analysis in received by the hospital.
