Burial ceremonies described as sources of Ebola spread as Nigeria records five new cases

Even as five new suspected cases of Ebola Virus Disease have been recorded in Nigeria at the Yaba Mainland Hospital, Lagos, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris has said that burial ceremonies have played “remarkable” role in the spread of the Ebola virus.

He advised people to be very careful at such ceremonies and minimize contact with dead bodies at this period.

Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, he said the government had shifted its contact tracing from primary to secondary contacts as two of the new cases were from secondary contacts.

His words: “Burial ceremonies where mourners including family members have direct contact with patients who died of Ebola have also played a role in the spread and direct contact with dead bodies should be minimized at this period, even as washing and burial/disposal of such bodies should be professionally handled with safety to personal health of handlers being a cardinal focus”

He also said:“The mode of spread remains mainly transmission from an infected person in an infective state and from an infected animal (bat, monkey, etc) to a person.

“This is a call for vigilance as human to human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill (fever being a key sign) from Ebola virus through body fluids such as blood, urine, stool, saliva, breast milk, semen, and vomitus.

Speaking further on the new cases, Dr. Idris said:“Till date, we have recorded eight suspected cases, five of which came in yesterday, 12 confirmed”
“On the whole, five have died (including the index case). We are currently following up 213 contacts, and 62 have completed the two-day follow-up,” he added.

The commissioner also paid tributes to the deceased Dr. Stella Adadevoh, the Senior Consultant and Endocrinologist at First Consultant Medical Centre, Obalende, as well as the other health workers who had died from Ebola virus since the disease broke out in July.

 “She, (Dr. Adadevoh) it was, who took the initiative to intimate the Ministry concerning the index case – Liberian-American (Mr. Patrick Sawyer) and substantially to her credit the moderate containment achieved is owed,” said Dr. Idris.

“She led the team who attended to the index case. Her doggedness and commitment to duty saw her personally reviewing the case even though the patient had earlier been seen by a doctor.
While urging Lagosians not to panic as health personnel are in place to manage the current cases, he advised: “I encourage persons who have come in contact with infected persons to report early for treatment as such improves chances of survival.”