OAU Announces Suspected Ebola Victim; As House Calls For Extension Of Resumption Date

Posted by African Examiner Ebola News, education, Featured, Latest Headlines, News Wednesday, September 10th, 2014

Niyi Adeyi

A suspected case of deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has been reported in the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State, South Western Nigeria.

The case, an undergraduate of the institution, was said to be a secondary contact of one the infected victims.

In a press statement issued late yesterday by the school’s Public Relations, Biodun Olarewaju, the suspected student has been conveyed to Lagos state for adequate medical attention and treatment as well as detailed investigation.

The statement clarified that the suspected victims was a secondary contact of one the confirmed Ebola cases in Port Harcout, the Rivers State capital. The student was discovered when she reported ill at the institution’s health centre.

She was however suspected to have been infected after a clinical assessment by the school’s Ebola Surveillance Preparedness and Response Committee, after which the State Ministry of Health, the Federal Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation(WHO) were contacted.

The school’s Public Relations who did not confirm the case indicated in the statement that the school has taken necessary measures to contain spread of the virus in the citadel.

Olarenwaju however informed that the National and the WHO teams on Ebola Control have promptly decontaminated the University Health Centre despite the fact that the case was yet to be confirmed.

He therefore urged members of the University Community to remain calm as the situation he reaffirmed was under control.

In a related development, the House of Representatives has pitched its tent with the Nigeria Medical Assosciation (NMA), by calling for extension of resumption date of the nation’s Nursery/Primary Schools.

The House Committee Vice Chariman on Information, Victor Ogene stated this Tuesday that the extension was necessary in view of the worrisome state of Ebola in some parts of the country.

Ogene added that the committee would soon liase with its house education committee’s counterpart to review the issues relating to September 22, 2014 resumption date as announced last Friday, by the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau in Abuja. The Federal Government has initially announced October 13 as resumption date for the schools.

NMA has on Monday warned government against the new date, but instead advised the authorities should wait until all the existing ebola cases were fully treated and completed before fixing resumption date. Its Lagos state chapter according to its Chairman, Dr. Tope Ojo advised the schools to resume in December or next year.