BY ABIOSE ADELAJA ADAMS
A female doctor, who was the first Nigerian to be diagnosed with the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, has fully recovered, the minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said on Saturday.
A press statement signed by his special adviser Dan Nwomeh said; “the first Nigerian to be diagnosed of EVD, a female doctor, was discharged home this evening (Saturday).”
The unnamed doctor contracted the disease while treating late Patrick Sawyer and had since received treatment at the Isolation Ward of the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba
Late Sawyer, a Liberian American brought the disease to Lagos on July 20 and was admitted at the First Consultant Medical Centre where he died on July 25.
Ever since then, a total of 12 people who had primary contact with him tested positive for the disease. Four have died (including Sawyer), while 195 are under surveillance.
To be declared a survivor, a patient must have been free of symptoms for up to three days and tested negative. However, there are still seven other patients who remain in isolation and are said to have been responding to treatment.
The Zaire-strain of Ebola virus is the deadliest causing up to 90 per cent case fatality. However with early detection, good management with immune boosting drugs, the death rate may be lowered to 60 per cent.
Since the recent outbreak in West Africa since March it has killed over a 1000 people across Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.