Anti-graft: President Buhari says judiciary is his major headache

President Muhammadu has revealed his biggest headache in the battle against corruption in the country.

The Nigerian president, who spoke on Sunday, January 31, 2016, through his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, noted that the nation’s judiciary remains his major headache.

President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to The Punch, Buhari disclosed that his travails in courts up to the level of the Supreme Court in his three previous attempts at becoming the President showed clearly that the judiciary needs urgent reforms.

“On the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now. 

“If you reflect on what I went through for 12 years when I wanted to be the President, I attempted three times and on the fourth attempt through God and the use of technology, it was possible for Nigerians to elect an APC candidate as President. 

“In my first attempt in 2003, I ended up at the Supreme Court and for 13 months I was in court. The second attempt in 2007, I was in court close to 20 months and in 2011, my third attempt, I was also in court for nine months. 

“All these cases went up to the Supreme Court until the fourth time in 2015, when God agreed that I will be President of Nigeria,” he stated.

He however, assured that with the support of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, Nigeria’s judicial administration system would receive.

Culled from www.naij.cm

Zika Virus: 7 things you need to know about the deadly viral infection

Lately, the mosquito-borne Zika virus has become a global emergency and a subject of global concern, even as the World Health Organization has projected that up to 4 million people may be affected in the ongoing outbreak.

As of today, cases of the viral infection have been reported in 23 countries across the Central and South America. In fact, latest statistics revealed that 36 people in the United States, including 4 pregnant women have been diagnosed with Zika virus infection.

Highlighted below are answers to some of the questions you may want to ask about the Zika virus:
1. What is Zika Virus?

It is a mosquito-borne virus first identified in 1947 among Rhesus monkeys in Uganda. About five years later, Zikavirus was identified in humans in Uganda and Tanzania. Since then, outbreaks of the virus have been recorded in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. This virus belongs to the flavivirus genre where Yellow Fever and Dengue also belong.

2. How is Zika Virus transmitted?

So far, it has been established that Zika virus is mosquito-borne. It is usually transmitted to people when they get bitten by an infected mosquito of the Aedes genus, especially Aedesaegyptii, the same mosquito implicated in the transmission of Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya. Unlike the female Anopheles mosquito which transmits malaria, Aedes mosquito has been described as a daytime mosquito because it usually bites during the morning and evening hours.

3. How can one know if one has Zika Virus?

Although the time of exposure to onset of symptoms (incubation period) is yet unclear for Zika virus, experts have said it is likely to be a few days. The infected individual may experience mild symptoms of fever, skin rashes, muscle and joint pains, headache, malaise and red eyes. Note, however, that only about 20% of infected individuals will show symptoms which typically last for 2 – 7 days.

4. Can Zika Virus wreak any havoc?

Intensive research is still ongoing to establish a definite link between Zika virus infection in pregnant women and babies born with small heads (microcephaly). In Brazil which is the worst hit by the current outbreak, more than 4000 children have been diagnosed with microcephaly – a condition where a baby is born with an abnormally small head and by implication, a small brain. Such a baby will most likely experience delays in achieving developmental milestones as well as possible mental retardation in future. In the same vein, the current Zika virus outbreak has been linked with a higher number of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare paralysis syndrome that may occur after some viral or bacterial infections.

5. How is Zika Virus diagnosed?

A highly sensitive and specific method employed in the diagnosis of Zika virus is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which is based on a process that produces multiple copies of the viral DNA. Since the virus can easily cross-react with similar flaviviruses such as Dengue and Yellow Fever, serological diagnosis is not reliable since it can lead to false-positive results.

6. Can Zika Virus be treated?

Currently, no drug treatment or vaccine has been discovered for Zika virus. However, since the symptoms are often mild, supportive treatment will often suffice such as drinking plenty fluids for adequate hydration, pain relief, bed rest and control of fever.

7. Can Zika Virus be prevented?

Yes, Zika virus infection is preventable by eliminating potential sources of the Aedes mosquito and preventing contact between the mosquito and people. How can this be achieved? By clearing your environment of potential breeding sites such as stagnant water or overgrown bushes, use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, use of insect repellant creams, putting on clothes that cover as much of the body as possible since the Zika virus often bites during the day. In combating this menace, Brazil has now deployed thousands of workers to scour her cities for mosquito breeding grounds while also fumigating those areas and educating residents on the dangers of still and stagnant water where the female Aedes mosquitoes lay their eggs.

Culled from www.nigerianbulletin.com
Photo credit: www.oceanpress.info

Thousands return to Nigerian town after Boko Haram ouster

Thousands of Nigerian refugees, who fled to neighbouring Cameroon in 2014 to escape Boko Harm militants, have returned to the liberated northeastern town of Gamboru only to find their homes and their livelihoods destroyed, residents and officials told AFP Friday.

A trader washes his hands on May 11, 2014 at Gamboru market, burned by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

Over the past three days more than 15,000 Nigerians have crossed the 300-metre (yard) river bridge that forms the border with Cameroon, following calls by military and local leaders‎ for residents to return, an official in Gamboru said.

"More are coming in everyday," he added.

Boko Haram fighters seized Gamboru in violence-wracked Borno state in August 2014, forcing thousands to flee across the border to the town of Fotokol on the other bank of the river in northern Cameroon.

Chadian forces reclaimed Gamboru in February last year, after intense fighting that left hundreds of insurgents dead, as part of a regional military coalition put together to crush the Islamist group which has become a threat to regional security.

"We found a looted and burnt out town which is a shadow of its former self," said Abacha Mari, one of those who returned to Gamboru on Wednesday. 

"More than nine-tenths of the buildings in the town have been damaged by fire while ‎the rest have been washed away by the rains," he added. 

"Everything was looted and the streets are barely recognisable." 

- 'Nobody found anything ' -

Gamboru has been repeatedly targeted in the Boko Haram insurrection which has cost the lives of 17,000 people in Nigeria and made over 2.5 million homeless since 2009.

Although Boko Haram were forced out of Gamboru 11 months ago, the refugees say they are only now beginning to feel confident enough to return because the Nigerian army has sent a large contingent to the town.

The return of the refugees is being coordinated by Cameroonian soldiers‎ and local officials in Gamboru, the returning residents said.

The Nigerian refugees and their belongings wer‎e screened at the Cameroonian side of the bridge by soldiers using sniffer dogs to detect explosives before they were allowed cross back into Nigeria, where officials were ready to welcome them and provided them with the necessary papers for their return.

Returning residents scoured their empty homes in the vain hope of finding any personal ‎effects neglected by Boko Haram.

"Nobody found anything in their homes which have been looted and burnt," said ‎returnee Ibrahim Wanzan.

The destruction that they found came as no surprise. Some of the refugees had already visited Gamboru under the protection of Chadian soldiers in February 2015 and described it then as a"ghost town".

A key source of the locals' livelihood, the market, has also been destroyed. It formerly attracted traders from neighbouring Chad and Cameroon‎.

"Our main problem is food and how to rebuild our homes," Wanzan said.

The returned residents have been living on the food they brought from Fotokol and desperately hope to receive aid from the Nigerian government before supplies run out, Mari said.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA‎) plans to send aid to Gamboru in coming days.

"We are aware of the return of thousands of Gamboru residents from Cameroon and we are ‎working to send relief items to them in the next few days," a NEMA official told AFP.

Culled from news.yahoo.com
Photo Credit: AFP Photo

Lagos confirms first Lassa fever case, allays fears

Lagos State Government on Saturday called on residents to remain calm over the outbreak of Lassa fever, just as it assured that it is doing everything possible to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Addressing journalists at the Alausa Secretariat, on the first case of the disease recorded in the state, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris said in line with international standards, 92 persons who had direct and indi­rect contact with the index case are currently being followed-up. Idris confirmed that the index case, a 25-year-old male under­graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, was reported to have fallen ill after arriving in Lagos and was taken to Ahmmadiyyah Hospi­tal, Ojokoro on January 9 with complaint of fever, sore throats and difficulty in swallowing.

He said the patient was sub­sequently placed on admission for six days and was thereafter referred by the said private hos­pital to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on January 14, 2016 owing to the fact that the fever was persistent and his condition was not im­proving. According to Idris, the patient was confirmed as a case of Lassa fever on January 15, at LUTH, and is currently being managed to the extent that his condition is now stable.

Idris added that 15 in-patients who were admitted alongside the index case as well as 25 health workers who attended to them have been placed on compulsory 21 days monitoring, and that the phone numbers and addresses of the persons in that category have also been collected for proper tracking.

Any of the persons in that cat­egory with temperature above 38.5, according to Idris, would be isolated so as to prevent the spread of the disease, while they have also been advised on the need to maintain little or no con­tact with others, at least for now.

The Commissioner said:

“Though Lassa fever and Eb­ola Virus Disease belong to the same viral hemorrhagic fever group, Lassa fever is milder and can be treated and cured if de­fected early. Therefore, any per­sistent fever should be reported to the nearest public health facility. “Residents are urged to watch out for the signs and symptoms of Lassa fever which typically occur with incubation period of 1-3 weeks after the patient comes into contact with the virus. Early symptoms of the disease include fever, head­ache, chills, diarrheas, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains. “Late symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could prog­ress to coma, shock and death,” he said. 

While stating that drugs and other materials have been propositioned at the designated facilities across the state, Id­ris said isolation centres have equally been prepared to manage suspected and confirmed cases, adding that the state government is fully prepared to manage the situation and as such people should not panic for whatever reasons.

Culled from www.sunnewsonline.com

Governor Aregbesola to sack striking doctors on Monday

The threat to sack the striking doctors in Osun State may be carried out starting from Monday, The PUNCH has learnt.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola gave the hint of what might befall the doctors in Osogbo on Thursday while speaking at the 75th birthday anniversary of the founding President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Hassan Sunmonu.

The governor said he was surprised that despite his efforts to persuade the doctors, who commenced the ongoing strike on September 28, 2015, they had stuck to their guns.

He said,

“To my dismay, they stuck to their guns. But you are either in or out. We have decided to use the civil service rule.

“The Head of Service will implement that as from Monday. Head of Service, it is over to you.”

Some of those present starting grumbling loud enough to attract the attention of the governor who was forced to ask if some of the doctors were present at the occasion.

Our correspondent further gathered that the ultimatum given to the doctors had been extended and it would expire on Friday, January 8 (today).

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Hospitals Management Board, Mrs. Omolara Ajayi, had while addressing journalists, appealed to the doctors to resume work in the interest of the masses.

Ajayi said it was not wrong to fight for one’s rights but the doctors should consider the masses who could not afford to seek medical treatment at private hospitals.

She said,

“I want to appeal to them to resume in the interest of the masses, people who do not have an alternative. A life that is lost is lost forever.”

Ajayi also said state hospitals were not deserted, adding that other medical workers were not on strike and they were rendering services to patients.

Culled from www.punchng.com

Nurse Alleged To Have Killed 3 Patients, Poisoned 18 Others

A nurse who was supposed to save people’s lives deliberately poisoned and murdered them instead. 

Nurse Victorino Chua.

Victorino Chua who worked as a nurse killed three patients and poisoned 18 more by contaminating medication at their hospital at Stockport, Great Manchester, UK. A massive police investigation revealed that Chua had secretly injected insulin into droppers and vials.

At least twenty-one patients suffered as a result of Chua’s malicious actions between June 2011 and January 2012. Although motive for his actions is yet to be established as the accused denies a total of 36 charges.

He was charged with the three murders, one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, 23 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, eight counts of attempting to cause a poison to be administered and one count of administering a poison.

This is not the first time when nurses make use of their patients’ vulnerability, earlier this year an Italian nurse was arrested on suspicion of killing 38 terminal patients as she had found them or their families annoying. One more male nurse chose a deadly way of demonstrating his resuscitation skills causing the deaths of 30 patients in Germany.

Italian Doctor With Ebola Arrives in Rome

An Italian doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone arrived Tuesday in Rome, where he will receive specialist treatment, media reported.

The doctor, the first Italian to be infected with the disease, was flown into the military airport of Pratica di Mare, outside the capital.

The doctor, who reports say is a 50-year-old man, was transported in a specially sealed unit on board a military plane, TV pictures showed.

He will be hospitalised at the Lazzaro Spallanzani national institute for infectious diseases.

The Italian health ministry said he has not yet developed feverish symptoms and his general condition is good.

The doctor was working for the charity Emergency at a clinic for Ebola victims when he contracted the disease, which has killed nearly 5,500 people in its latest outbreak in west Africa.
Culled from Vanguard www.vanguardngr.com

Scientists Discover a New Test That Finds Ebola in 15 minutes

This would be a major break through  to checkmate the spread of Ebola, this test would cut down on days-long wait for diagnosis and this could be a game changer.

I just stumbled on this news few hours ago that some Tulane University scientists have created an Ebola diagnostic device that they say is as easy to use and nearly as fast as a home pregnancy test...*Amazing*

Ebola Testing in 15 Minutes.

The potentially game-changing device, which takes only a drop of blood and 15 minutes to identify the disease, is awaiting federal approval before it can be used in West Africa. Doctors there say it is sorely needed to prevent people from spreading the deadly virus while they wait days for lab results.

Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology at Tulane, has teamed up with Corgenix, a Colorado-based company, to create the device with nearly $3 million in federal funds. They are awaiting a green light from the Food and Drug Administration to fast-track approval for its use in West Africa. Another company, Genalyte of San Diego, says it has developed a test that takes just 10 minutes and also needs only one drop of blood to diagnose.

The spread of Ebola should be reduced with this device and the cost shouldn't be a problem problem because the alarming death rate caused by Ebola virus disease in West africa.
Photo Credit: Matt Boisen Corgenix/Tulane

Nurse Nina Pham Ebola-Free, Meets Obama

After nearly two weeks in isolation, Ebola patient Nina Pham walked out of a Maryland hospital on Friday free of the deadly disease that has seized the nation’s attention.

“She has no virus in her,” said Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health. “She is cured of Ebola, let's get that clear.”

President Barack Obama hugs Ebola survivor Nina Pham at the Oval Office.

Fauci's boss' boss got the message. President Barack Obama invited Pham and her family to the White House where he gave the Ebola survivor a big hug.

Pham — one of two Texas nurses to contract the disease while caring for the country’s first Ebola patient — was hopeful and humble as she left the hospital Friday morning.

“I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate,” Pham said. “I do not know how I can ever thank everyone enough for their prayers and their expressions of concerns, hope and love.”

Still, the 26-year-old acknowledged the ordeal “has been very stressful and challenging for me and my family.”

“Although I no longer have Ebola, I know it may be a while before I have my strength back,” Pham said.

Pham and her colleague, Amber Vinson, were among 50 to 70 health care workers involved in the treatment of Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8.

Duncan arrived in Texas from Ebola-ravaged Liberia on Sept. 20. The disease, which kills more than half the people it infects, has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people in West Africa in 2014, the World Health Organization estimates. There is no known cure.
Culled from Yahoo News news.yahoo.com
Photo Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing

WHO Finally Declares Nigeria Free of Ebola Virus Disease

The World Health Organization today declared Nigeria Ebola-free after the disease claimed seven lifes in the West Africa country.

“The outbreak in Nigeria has been defeated,” Rui Vaz, WHO’s country representative for Nigeria, told reporters today in Abuja, the capital. “This is a spectacular success story that shows the world that ebola can be contained.”

WHO Finally Declares Nigeria Free of Ebola Virus Disease.

In July, Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer brought the virus to Nigeria when he arrived on a flight at Lagos, the country’s biggest city with estimated 20 million people. According to Nigeria’s health ministry, Sawyer and six others (which includes five health workers who treated him and the protocol officer) that received him at the airport, died of Ebola.

Nigerian officials said they were expecting the declaration 42 days after the last contact was cleared in early September. They led a two-month campaign during which contact tracers made 18,500 home visits to more than 800 people who came into contact with infected persons in Lagos and the southeastern oil center of Port Harcourt. Africa’s biggest economy with more than 170 million people recorded 19 cases, with seven deaths and 12 recoveries.

According to reports, Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea has infected about 9,000 people and killed up to 5,000, the WHO said on Oct. 15. 42 year old Eric Duncan traveled from Liberia, the worst-hit nation, to Dallas, infected a nurse Nina Pham and died from the virus while in isolation at a hospital. His case was the first Ebola infection confirmed in the U.S.

Tom Aba, the senior data manager at the Ebola Emergency Operation Center, said in Sept. 30 that “One of the key things that worked for Nigeria was the fact that we knew the index case and we were able to trace all the contacts back to him”.

African First Ladies to Assist Ebola-Hit Countries With Aids

The African First Ladies Peace Mission, said on Saturday that it would dispatch relief materials soon to the Ebola-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The AFLPM President and Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, said this at the opening of the third Executive Bureau meeting of the Association in Pretoria.

She said, “There is need to undertake a mission to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, currently confronting the challenge of the Ebola Virus Disease.

“Given the increasing loss of lives and the great need for humanitarian assistance in those countries, it is essential that the Peace Mission rallies support for our sisters and children there.

“I propose that our mission should dispatch relief materials to them in the coming months.”

Jonathan said under her stewardship, the Association had continued to provide humanitarian support for refugees and internally displaced persons.

She explained further that relief items including food and materials were presented to victims of conflicts in Guinea Bissau, Central African Republic and Nigeria.

According to her, this activity has become an integral component of the mission’s activities which must be sustained.
Culled from The Punch www.punchng.com

Ebola Deaths Pass 4,447

The death toll from the Ebola virus outbreak has risen to 4,447, with the large majority of victims in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward also said there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week within two months if efforts were not stepped up,

But the rate of new infections in some areas has slowed down, he added.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit by the outbreak.

There have been 8,914 cases overall, including the fatal cases, and the WHO says it expects this number to top 9,000 by the end of the week.

The WHO estimates its figures by taking the numbers of confirmed cases and multiplying them – from Guinea by 1.5, from Sierra Leone by 2 and from Liberia by 2.5 – to account for under-reporting.

In other developments:

*The UK began Ebola screening at London’s Heathrow airport

*A medic working for Sierra Leone’s army at a peacekeeping training centre in Freetown tested positive for Ebola

*A “site manager” was appointed at the Dallas hospital where a nurse was infected, with the task of supervising how workers put on and take off protective clothing

*The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has set up an immediate response team to travel to any US hospital where Ebola is diagnosed, to hit the ground “within hours”

*A UN health worker, originally from Sudan, died in Germany after contracting the disease in Liberia

*Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, would donate $25m (£16m) to fight Ebola

*A Spanish nurse – the first person to contract the disease outside of Africa – remains in critical condition, although doctors say there are signs of improvement

Aylward told reporters in Geneva that the WHO, which is the UN’s health agency, was concerned to see the virus was still spreading in the capitals of the three worst-affected countries.

He said the death rate in the current Ebola outbreak was 70%, describing it as a “high-mortality disease”.

He said 95% of cases were limited to areas in the “historic epicentre” of the outbreak, where the rate of new infections appeared to be slowing.

However, he stressed that it would be too early to read this as success.

The latest WHO projections suggested there could be between 5,000 and 10,000 cases a week in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone by December.

“It could be higher, it could be lower but it’s going to be in that ballpark,” he said.

“In certain areas we’re seeing disease coming down, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to go to zero.”

Countries neighbouring the three worst-affected states are “at risk” and it is important for them to prepare for the possibility of Ebola cases, the WHO said.

The head of the UN mission for Ebola response, Anthony Banbury, also issued a stern warning – telling the UN Security Council by video-link from West Africa that in the race to contain Ebola, the virus was winning.

“If we do not get ahead of the crisis, if we do not reach our targets and the number of people with Ebola rises dramatically as some have predicted, the plan we have is not scalable to the size of such a new crisis,” he said.

“We either stop Ebola now or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan.”

Also on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama said that “the world as a whole is not doing enough” to contain the Ebola threat.

He was speaking at the end of a meeting with about 20 US and allied military leaders primarily focused on the threat from Islamic State militants.

He said the US would continue to do its part but added: “Everybody’s going to have to do more than they are doing right now.”

The White House said President Obama would discuss the Ebola crisis in a video conference on Wednesday with British, French, German and Italian leaders.
Culled fron New Telegraph www.newtelegraphonline.com

Nina Pham Identified as Dallas Nurse With Ebola

The Texas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for the first person to die of the virus in the U.S. has been identified as 26-year-old Nina Pham.

Health officials have not released the nurse’s name, but Yahoo News identified Pham through public records and a state nursing database.

Nina Pham.

Then on Monday, Pham’s family confirmed her identity to local Dallas ABC News affiliate WFAA.

Pham, a critical care nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, is one of at least 50 people who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan before he died last Wednesday.

Pham has been in isolation since late Friday. The CDC confirmed her Ebola diagnosis on Sunday. It is the first time the deadly virus has been transmitted in the United States.

The Dallas resident is a 2010 graduate of Texas Christian University and has been a nurse since June 2010, according to state records.

The CDC director, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said Pham is in stable condition at Texas Health Presbyterian. An unidentified person Pham had close contact with last week is also in isolation at the hospital, but Frieden said that individual has not become ill.
Investigators have not determined how Pham specifically contracted the disease from Duncan, who died on his 10th day of intensive care at the hospital.

"If this one individual was infected and we don't know how — within the isolation unit — then it is possible that other individuals could have been infected as well," Frieden said during a press conference. "We consider them to be at risk, and we are doing an in-depth review and investigation."

A day earlier, Frieden characterized the transmission from Duncan to Pham as a possible breach in safety protocols. On Monday he apologized for those remarks.

"Some interpreted that as finding fault with the hospital or the health care worker, and I'm sorry if that was the impression given. That was certainly not my intention," Frieden said. "What we need to do, is all take responsibility for improving the safety of those on the front lines. I feel awful that a health care worker became infected in the care of an Ebola patient. She was there trying to help the first patient survive."

Tom Ha, a longtime friend of Pham's family, told the Dallas Morning News that it is in the nurse's genes to go out of her way to assist others.

"I expect, with the big heart that she has, she went beyond what she was supposed to do to help anyone in need," Ha told the newspaper.
Culled from Yahoo News! news.yahoo.com

U.S. Healthcare Worker Tests Positive for Ebola

A healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in the U.S. has tested positive for Ebola after treating a Liberian patient hospitalised there.

A statement issued on Sunday by the Texas Department of State Health Services said the health worker, whose identity was not released, was isolated after reporting a low-grade fever on Friday night.

It said preliminary test results of the patient released on Saturday tested positive while confirmatory test was currently taking place at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who was the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., died of the disease in the same hospital on Wednesday.

Duncan contracted the Ebola virus in Liberia, but did not begin to show symptoms of the disease until a few days after his arrival in Texas in September.

“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” Dr David Lakey, head of the Texas health department, said in the statement.

“We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread,” he said.

Later at a news conference Dan Varga, a Texas medical official, said the healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was wearing full protective gear.

Varga said the worker was self-monitoring for symptoms of Ebola when they recorded a slight fever and came to the hospital.

“The person was wearing protective gear prescribed by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention when they were infected.

“We’re very concerned,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israel has announced that it would introduce screenings at its borders and at Ben Gurion International Airport in a bid to prevent Ebola patients from entering its territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Sunday that visitors from West Africa would have to answer a list of health-related questions upon arrival.

It added that any suspected carriers of the virus could be placed in quarantine, transported to hospital or refused entry.

Israel is the third country to introduce Ebola screening after the United States and Britain did so earlier this week.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates the death toll resulting from the worst outbreak of Ebola on record to have reached 4,033.

In Liberia, the hardest-hit West African country, 2,316 people have died.

The death toll in Sierra Leone and Guinea stands at nearly 1,000 respectively, according to the latest WHO update.
Culled from Vanguard www.vanguardngr.com

Ebola Crisis: New York’s JFK Airport to Begin Screening Passengers

New York’s JFK airport is to start screening passengers from the west African countries worst affected by Ebola in a bid to halt the international spread of the outbreak that has killed more than 4,000 people.

Teams equipped with thermal guns will take the temperatures of travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and ask them a series of questions about their possible exposure to the virus as they enter the US.

Passengers Pass Through the Security Checkpoints at John F Kennedy International Airport.

JFK is the first of five US airports to start enhanced screening of passengers from the countries worst hit by Ebola; checks will begin in the next few days at O’Hare in Chicago, Newark, Washington’s Dulles and Atlanta’s airport.

The measures come after Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola outside Africa, died on Wednesday in a Texas hospital. Duncan had travelled to the US from Liberia, and was only diagnosed with the disease once he arrived in Dallas.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the airport screening was just one aspect of an overall strategy to fight the spread of Ebola.

“Because we want to protect the American public, we are taking a tiered approach,” said CDC spokesman Jason McDonald.

But even before the authorities start checking passengers for fevers, critics questioned whether the screenings would prove effective at stopping travellers infected with the often fatal Ebola virus from entering the country.

JFK is the entry point for nearly half of the roughly 150 travellers who arrive daily from the three west African countries, and those flights amount to around 0.1% of all international daily arrivals to the airport, McDonald said.

The latest figures released by the World Health Organisation show the number of deaths attributed to the haemorrhagic fever has risen to 4,033. The vast majority of the fatalities – 4,024 – were in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Department of homeland security’s customs and border protection (CBP) officials will conduct the screenings under CDC direction, McDonald said.

Using infrared temperature guns, the CBP officers will check for high temperatures among passengers whose journeys began or included a stop in one of the three west African countries.

Those with a fever or other symptoms, or possible exposure to Ebola, will be referred to the CDC. Health authorities may then decide to admit a person to a hospital for evaluation, testing and treatment, or to quarantine or isolate the patient under federal law.

Britain has already introduced enhanced screening for the virus at Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Eurostar rail terminals.

A national exercise to test Britain’s readiness for an Ebola outbreak will take place later on Saturday.
Culled from The Guardian www.theguardian.com
Photo Credit: Michael Nagle/Getty Images

Jonathan Releases N200m Ebola Fund to Rivers State

The Rivers State Government said on Friday that President Goodluck Jonathan had released the sum of N200m promised by the Federal Government as part of its contribution to the fight against the Ebola virus disease in the state.

Jonathan Releases N200m Ebola Fund to Rivers State.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, expressed gratitude to the President for fulfilling his promise and assistance in tackling the dreaded disease.

Parker explained that though the state had won the battle against Ebola, the war against the disease was not yet over, adding that the existence of the disease in Liberia and Sierra Leone was still a risk to other countries.

“We thank President Jonathan for graciously releasing the N200m he promised to give to the state to assist us in tackling Ebola. We have received the money.

“Ebola was still ravaging Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. With what we are hearing that is happening in other parts of the world, the ocean cannot stop EVD from travelling.”

“So, we have to redouble our efforts this time around in the areas of vigilance, surveillance and monitoring. Our treatment centre here is still open. The operations centre is still on. Surveillance is still going on. Point of entry are still been monitored. Screening is still going on,” he added.
Culled from The Punch www.punchng.com

Panic in Lagos Airport Over Ebola Cases in Europe, US

The outbreak of Ebola in Spain, Norway and some other parts of Europe is causing fresh panic at the Murtala Muhammed International airport.

Panic in Lagos Airport Over Ebola Cases in Europe, US.

Spain and Norway are currently experiencing cases of Ebola. In Spain, there was a protest by medical workers outside a hospital over suspected cases of Ebola.

This development has triggered panic at the MMA as health and immigration officials have been placed on red alert.

Sources close to the aviation ministry and Port Health Authority told our correspondent on Wednesday that officials have been told to intensify screening process of people arriving the country especially from suspected troubled areas.

An official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, who didn’t want to be quoted confirmed the development and told our correspondent that it was important not to take chances in the light of current happenings in the US, Spain and Norway.

“We just have to be careful to prevent any possible spill over since people come in from all parts of the country.

“We are battle ready to intensify screening and prevent any case in Lagos and Nigeria generally,” he said.

An official of Port Health, who gave her name as Mrs. Esther Awoyemi, and is stationed at the Lagos International Airport, said officials had been kept on alert, and that checks had been doubled up since the fresh case had been reported in the US.

She said, “As you are aware, the confirmed case in US is dead. We have been instructed to take special care especially with incoming passengers from the affected countries, and now, we are to be cautious of European and US passengers.”

“The ministry does not want a reoccurrence of what happened here a few months back, some countries are beginning to look up to us for strategies on how to contain the case, so we have to do everything to ensure we do not have fresh cases.”

Investigation by our correspondent showed that already, some passengers billed to travel from Nigeria have begun to cancel their flights over renewed fears of the deadly disease.

Aviation authorities are now taking extra measures to screen passengers on direct and connecting flights from the US.

The health officials are working with the immigration to forestall cases of infected person entering the country from the US or any other part especially now that about 100 people are currently under observation in the US.

“We are simply doing the normal thing. There is the need to be cautious when we hear of a reported case in any part of the world no matter how developed the country is. It is a normal routine because we cannot afford to take chances. Prevention is always better in health situations,” an aviation official told our correspondent.

An official of Delta Airlines, who gave her name as Marylyn Thomas, told our correspondent that since the breakout of the news of Ebola in US, some passengers have rescheduled or cancelled their flights.

She said, “It is becoming a serious issue I think everyone is trying to be careful since the news broke out. Already, some passengers are showing serious concern and some have gone as far as cancelling or rescheduling their flights.”
Culled from The Punch www.punchng.com
Photo Credit: News10 www.news10.net

Ebola: US May Commence Screening Air Passengers For Ebola

There is the possibility that US might start screening passengers from Ebola hit countries before they enter the country. This is coming about a week after Thomas Eric Duncan entered the country with Ebola.

President Obama said yesterday that though the likelihood of an Ebola outbreak in the US is 'extremely low' but they have to react.

"We're also going to be working on protocols to do additional passenger screening both at the source and here in the United States. Countries that think that they can sit on the sidelines and just let the United States do it, that will result in a less effective response, a less speedy response, and that means that people die."

"And it also means that the potential spread of the disease beyond these areas in West Africa becomes more imminent," President Obama said at the White House briefing with US health officials

According to report, Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who became the first case of Ebola diagnosed in US is in a critical condition in a hospital isolation unit in Dallas.

Screening air passengers from Ebola hit countries is better that the application of Donald Trump suggestion that flights from this African regions should be stopped.
Photo Credit: CNN www.cnn.com

Ebola: Spanish Health Officials Obtain Order to Kill Ebola Nurse's Dog

The husband of the Spanish nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola is denouncing health officials who told him their dog would have to be killed as a precaution.

Ebola: Spanish Health Officials Obtain Order to Kill Ebola Nurse's Dog.

In a letter posted to posted to Facebook by Villa Pepa Protective Association, an animal rights group, Javier Limon Romero, the husband of the infected nurse, Teresa Romeo, says an official with the Madrid health department told him "that they have to sacrifice my dog."

"I was asked to give them my consent, but I obviously refused," Javier wrote. "He says he was going to ask for a court order to forcibly enter my home and sacrifice Excalibur."

The husband says he left the dog several buckets of water and food before coming to the hospital, where he has been quarantined along two others who are being observed for symptoms. Twenty-two other people who came into contact with the nurse are being closely monitored, Spanish health officials said Tuesday.

The nurse had helped treat two missionaries who contracted Ebola in West Africa and were repatriated to Spain last month. Both died shortly after arriving in Madrid. The nurse began feeling ill on Sept. 30 and was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday.

According to the Associated Press, Madrid's regional government obtained a court order to euthanize and incinerate their pet," saying "available scientific knowledge suggests a risk that the mixed-breed dog could transmit the virus to humans." It's unclear whether they carried out the order.

"It seems unfair," Javier wrote of the euthanasia order. "If you are really worried about this problem I think you can find another type of alternative solutions, such as putting the dog in quarantine and observation as it has me. Or maybe you will have to sacrifice me just in case. But of course, with a dog it's easier, it doesn't matter as much."

A Change.org petition to save the dog has already collected more than 97,000 signatures.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 3,400 people have been killed and more than 7,400 infected since the Ebola outbreak began in March.

U.S. animal officials, though, say there is no evidence dogs can transmit Ebola to humans.

While some dogs in West Africa have tested positive for the Ebola virus, they showed no signs of being infected, Michael San Filippo, senior media relations specialist for the American Veterinary Medical Association, told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette last month.

“There is more concern about fruit bats and non-human primates,” San Filippo said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ebola "may be spread as a result of handling bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) and contact with infected bats."
Culled from Yahoo! News news.yahoo.com

Lagos Ebola Volunteer Workers Demand Unpaid Allowances

Health workers at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Lagos have asked the Federal and the Lagos State governments to pay their allowances.

According to some of the volunteers who spoke to Punch at the Lagos Treatment Centre, on Thursday, they had yet to receive payment for the month of September.

Lagos Ebola Volunteer Workers Demand Unpaid Allowances.

One of them, a nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be single out for sanction, said the health workers received a message from their coordinators that the state government had given directives that operations at the centre be shut down on Thursday, even when their monies had not been paid.

The nurse said, “We were told last night that they would shut down the centre on Thursday but they did not mention anything about the money they owe us. 

“They should settle us because there will be no one to complain to after the centre has been shut down. Everybody is praising Nigeria that it contained Ebola, meanwhile the people that worked are not yet compensated as they should be. We have not even been addressed formally; they just discarded us as if we committed a crime by volunteering.”

While doctors at the Ebola centre receive N50,000 per shift, nurses are paid N40,000.

Punch's correspondent, who visited the centre on Thursday, observed that the doors were padlocked and there was no visible activity at the time of the visit.

Another volunteer, who is also a nurse called on the Federal Government to address the delay in the payment of their allowances and warned that failure to do so now would discourage people from volunteering in the future.

She said, “Government should be responsible. They promised to give us life insurance; we have not heard anything about that. They said they would give us N1m upfront. They have not. We risked our lives, stigma and our livelihood to work here, the least they can do is to pay us as when due. 

“They were always delaying our payment. But if they are going to shut down, they should pay us for what we tirelessly worked for. If not, nobody will answer or volunteer when next they call.”

Calls to the Lagos State Commissioner for Heath, Dr. Jide Idris, were not answered. The commissioner did not also reply text sent to his mobile phone on the matter.
Culled from The Punch www.punchng.com