EBOLA: FOUR MORE PATIENTS DISCHARGED IN LAGOS

Dr. Jide Idris

The Lagos State Government has confirmed the discharge of four additional patients in isolation at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, who have recovered from the Ebola Virus Disease and have been symptom-free for at least three days in addition to having negative blood test results.
The development was first announced by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, earlier on Monday.
Speaking with newsmen at the premises of the IDH in Yaba on the development, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said the four persons had earlier been taken into isolation after testing positive but have now tested negative and have been symptoms free for at least three days.
Idris who was with the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, added that the four persons in addition to the first person who was released two days ago, were being discharged based on the protocol provided by the World Health Organisation and the Centre for Disease Control, adding that have had their blood checked and tested negative to Ebola.
He said: “They would be released today to their families but they are being counseled by the psycho-social team and they would also come in periodically for check-ups but by protocols they are okay. That is why we are releasing them to go home.
“Out of the eight, one had been discharged based on the protocols provided by WHO and CDC for discharge. If you take the blood and the person is positive you take him into isolation and you mind him, continue to test the blood. Once he tests negative, it means the person is free but you have to be symptoms free for at least three days and that is how the last person was discharged.”
Idris also informed that the other three patients remaining are still at the Isolation Ward and are being managed, monitored and would be discharged once they recovered.
He stated that there are now about eight doctors, including an infectious disease expert from the Lagos State University, who are attending to the patients in the Isolation Ward as well as nine nurses and some health workers who have all been trained and fully understand the protocol.
While explaining some of the details of the protocol involved in the training, the Commissioner said it is on how to use the Personal Protective Equipment and how to remove it, adding that the essence is that within the facility, the care giver too must be safe.
Responding to a question on what type of treatment was administered on the recovered persons, Idris said there is no specific treatment regime for any of those in Isolation and that each patient is treated based on presentation.
He explained: “If a patient presents a diarrhea and vomiting, you have to replace fluids and electrolytes and if the patient presents pain, you have to give pain killers, if the patient is infected you would give antibiotics. It depends on the presentation of each patient, but I know they have enough drugs and enough medicine to take care of all those cases. If they require intensive care, that is part of the equipments that have been brought in, they would be provided now that we have more medical personnel to handle this people.”
The Commissioner also said there are three new suspected cases being monitored, with one of them being a blood sample sent in from Kaduna because the laboratory to conduct such test does not exist in the area, while the remaining two are all primary contacts from Lagos.