From all accounts, it is clear that the American Liberian named Patrick Sawyer knew he was down with the deadly Ebola disease. All the conditions for him to get infected were available. He had returned to Liberia to see his sister who had been diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus. Her husband obviously fearing for his own life had absconded and abandoned her upon confirmation of her Ebola status. His sister later died.
Not long after Patrick Sawyer himself began to manifest the symptoms of a person stricken with the Ebola virus. His temperature was high, he had headaches and he had wrenching stomach pains. He was in so much pain that he reportedly lay on his stomach at the airport in Liberia when he was departing. He was so concerned of his status he avoided everyone at the Liberian airport. Closed-circuit cameras reportedly showed him snubbing an immigration officer who extended his hand to shake hands with him. Just about an hour later, after landing in Nigeria, Sawyer collapsed and being an Ecowas staff, a team from Ecowas and officials from the Liberian Embassy rushed him to one of Nigeria’s elite clinics, First Consultants located at Obalende in Lagos
It is alleged that Sawyer lied to the medical team that he had never been close to an Ebola patient or zone, he equally became ‘delirious when he was informed that tests conducted on his blood specimen proved that he had been infected with the Ebola disease. In the process he yanked of the intravenous needles used for transfusing medication into him and caused blood spatter on the beddings, his body and the floor. There are unconfirmed reports that he also urinated and wet his bed while also causing spatters of urine on the health workers in his room..
The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has come up to apologise to Nigeria for Patrick Sawyer’s exportation of the Ebola virus into Nigeria. She indeed revealed that Mr. Sawyer was being observed and was meant to have been under constant watch when he came up with the symptoms but somehow he was able to sneak away and perfect his plans to come to Nigeria and ‘detonate’ his bomb.
In my considered opinion, Patrick Sawyer either had a grudge against Nigeria or against a Nigerian. Is it possible that his sister’s husband who left her to die was a Nigerian? Today, there are 4 confirmed cases of Ebola patients, in Nigeria, 1 fatality with about 70 ‘primary contacts’ of Patrck Sawyer under close observation for possible manifestation of Ebola symptoms. Why Sawyer, Why?
The story may however have been different if we had policed our borders better especially our air and seaports. The reason Ebola had never ravaged whole nations before now was because it usually occurred in remote, rural communities and authorities there usually try to confine the patient to such communities. It is taken so seriously in Liberia now that soldiers have been deployed not to allow indiscrimate entry and exit from the Ebola-prone zones.
Ebola hitting the jet-set immediately changes the dynamics and dimension of the diseese as the jet-set class are highly mobile. It is, however, highly disheartening that weeks after Ebola was exported from Liberia our airports are not taking the issue of screening passengers thoroughly seriously enough. Jude Onwuemene, a Nigerian engineer who traveled to Ghana and returned recently captures the sorry state of our vigilance thus: “We arrived on a flight from Ghana yesterday, 8th of August 2014, only to be greeted with a classical case of our typical gross unsrriousness… just before we approached the immigration posts, a middle aged woman stood in the hallway asking non-Nigerians to show their yellow cards while Nigerians were asked to move ahead to the immigration stand…On the other hand, only 2 days prior to my return, on the 6th of August 2014, when I arrived Ghana, we were thoroughly screened for Ebola. We were made to fill out a form which includes question on your health status, address in Ghana and Nigeria, phone numbers in Ghana and Nigeria, etc. We were tested and sanitized before we approached the Ghanaian immigration desks. With this type of precaution all over the borders of Ghana, how can Ebola ever penetrate? The risk will be definitely low.”
The federal minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu has asked Nigerians “to be vigilant, ensure personal and environmental hygiene and also report any suspected case to the nearest health facility.” He also gave some emergency contact numbers members of the public can report any suspected Ebola case to as: The Nigerian Center for Disease Control, NCDC, l 08023210923, 08097979595 and 07067352220; or email ebolainfo@health.gov.ng for inquiries.
My take is that government and the citizenry should tackle the threatening Ebola explosion with the all the dictates of emergency management as declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO). We cannot afford to fiddle while Ebola creeps up on us and unleashes a pandemic. For a disease that has no cure, it would be one problem too many. Ebola is a ticking time bomb that we must all join hands to defuse. Quickly.
FOR EBOLA VIRUS FACT SHEET Click here http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
| A PRECAUTIONARY NOTE:
“Patients in a hospital outpatient or inpatient setting should be placed in a private room. A negative pressure room is not required during the early stages of illness, but should be considered at the time of hospitalization to avoid the need for subsequent transfer of the patient. Nonessential staff and visitors should be restricted from entering the room. Caretakers should use barrier precautions to prevent skin or mucous membrane exposure to blood and other body fluids, secretions, and excretions. All persons entering the patient’s room should wear gloves and gowns to prevent contact with items or environmental surfaces that may be soiled. In addition, face shields or surgical masks and eye protection (e.g., goggles or eyeglasses with side shields) should be worn by persons coming within approximately 3 feet of the patient to prevent contact with blood, other body fluids, secretions (including respiratory droplets), or excretions.” |
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