Disease Control Suffers Lack of Fast Detection Tool
Original article from: Punch posted on August 19, 2014. By Folashade Adebayo with Agency Reports
In detecting the first case of Ebola in Nigeria, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, played a prompt and face-saving role. The LUTH’s preliminary result, though subjected to confirmatory tests, helped in the swift isolation of the patient, without which experts say the list of primary and secondary contacts would have been longer.
The intrusion of Ebola virus disease into Nigeria has highlighted the importance of advanced diagnostic equipment in the country. Following the suspicion that a 7-month old baby in Ilorin, Kwara State, may have been infected with the virus, his blood sample traveled several kilometers to Lagos, where it was confirmed that the baby did not have the virus.
Not wanting to be caught napping, state governments are setting up Response and Monitoring teams as well as isolation units for possible Ebola cases. In some states, that has also included the purchase of Ebola diagnostic equipment to save time and lives.
In Kwara State, for instance, the chairman, Committee on Control of Ebola Virus Disease, has said that Governor Abdulfatah Mohammed has asked that the diagnostic equipment be installed at the Advanced Diagnostic Centre in Ilorin.