Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu says the country has confirmed two new Ebola cases, the first two that have spread beyond those who had direct contact with the ill traveller from Liberia who brought the disease to Nigeria.
Chukwu said Friday in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, that the two new cases are spouses of patients who had direct contact with Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, who flew into the country last month with the virus and infected 11 others before he died.
The two are spouses of caregivers who treated Sawyer, both of whom later died.
These two new cases bring the total number of confirmed infections in Nigeria, including the traveller, to 14. Chukwu says five patients have died, five have recovered and four are being treated in Lagos.
Elsewhere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it had drawn up a draft strategy plan to combat Ebola in West Africa over the next six to nine months, implying that it does not expect to halt the epidemic this year.
Ebola road map document is 'an operational document how to fight Ebola,' WHO says. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)
More than 1,300 people have died this year from the virus in the worst ever outbreak and WHO has faced criticism, including from medical charity Doctors Without Borders, that it has done too little too late to fight the disease.
"WHO is working on an Ebola road map document, it's really an operational document how to fight Ebola," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said at a news briefing. "It details the strategy for WHO and health partners for six to nine months to come."
Chaib, asked whether the timeline meant that the United Nations health agency expected the epidemic now raging in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to continue until 2015, said: "Frankly no one knows when this outbreak of Ebola will end."
Ebola will be declared over in a country if two incubation periods, or 42 days in total, have passed without any confirmed case, she said. Nigeria is the fourth country with known cases.
"So with the evolving situation, with more cases reported, including in the three hot places — Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia — the situation is not yet over," Chaib said.
"So this is a planning document for six to nine months that we will certainly revisit when we have new developments."
In a statement on Friday, the WHO described some of the reasons it says the Ebola outbreak has been underestimated, including:
- Lack of staff, equipment and medical supplies such as masks, gloves and gowns.
- Overwhelmed health facilities. In Liberia's capital of Monrovia, an Ebola treatment centre with 20 beds that opened last week was immediately filled with more than 70 patients.
- Many families hid infected loved ones.
- In rural villages, bodies are buried without notifying health officials to investigate the cause of death.
The WHO expects to issue details of the plan early next week, Chaib said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Nigeria confirms 1st Ebola cases beyond caregivers of ill traveller
Dengan url
http://pentingsehat.blogspot.com/2014/08/nigeria-confirms-1st-ebola-cases-beyond.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Nigeria confirms 1st Ebola cases beyond caregivers of ill traveller
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Nigeria confirms 1st Ebola cases beyond caregivers of ill traveller
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar