The Ebola outbreak in Nigeria’s oil producing hub of Port Harcourt
could spread wider and faster than in the financial capital, Lagos, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) warned yesterday. The UN health body said the virus’
arrival in Port Harcourt, home to oil and gas majors such as Shell, Total and
Chevron, showed “multiple high-risk opportunities for transmission of the virus
to others”, reported AFP. Of the 255 people currently under surveillance for
signs of the disease, WHO said 60 were considered to have had “high-risk or
very high-risk exposure”. Until the Port Harcourt case was announced, Nigeria’s
government had indicated that the virus was contained in Lagos. But the warning
will raise fears about the spread of the virus in Africa’s most populous
nation, top economy and biggest oil producer plus its health sector’s ability
to cope with a wider outbreak. Ebola, which has hit five countries in West Africa and caused
nearly 2,000 deaths this year, first arrived in Nigeria when a Liberian finance
ministry official died in Lagos on July 25. He was taken from the city’s
airport to a private hospital by two officials from ECOWAS. One of the
officials later died of the disease but the other evaded detection to travel to
Port Harcourt, where he fell ill and was treated in secret at a city hotel room
by medical doctor Ike Enemuo from August 1-3. The ECOWAS official recovered but
WHO said Enemuo continued to treat patients at his private clinic and operated
on at least two people, despite showing symptoms of Ebola from August 11.
Thisday Newspaper
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