SAN FRANCISCO, August 04, (THEWILL) – A Nigerian doctor who treated a Liberian man, Patrick Sawyer infected with the Ebola virus has tested positive to the deadly virus, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu said Monday during the inauguration of a treatment research group to deal with the Ebola virus.
The Minister also disclosed that eight (8) persons out of seventy (70) that had first degree contact with Sawyer have been quarantined. He said the quarantined persons showed symptoms of the disease.
The 6-member research treatment committee is co-chaired by Professor Karniyus Gamanie, Director-General, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRID), Abuja.
The other co-chair is the Director-General of Nigerian Institute for Medical Research, Professor Innocent Ujah.
Also named as member of the group is the former chairman of the electoral commission, Professor Maurice Iwu, a pharmacognosist whose research on treatment for Ebola with Garcinia kola (Bitter kola) remains inconclusive.
So far, 887 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, while 1603 cases are known, according to World Health Organization data but the agency has warned that the disease is spreading faster than efforts to control it.
Sawyer, who became sick at the Murtala airport after arriving from Liberia died a few days after receiving treatment at the First Consultant Hospital in the Obalende area of Lagos.
An American doctor who contracted Ebola while treating infected victims in Liberia was flown into Atlanta, Georgia for treatment over the weekend. A second American suffering from the virus is also expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday from Liberia.
A CNN report Monday said three top secret, experimental vials stored at subzero temperatures were flown into Liberia last week in a last-ditch effort to save the two Americans.
