Ebola scare: Ten quarantined as FG dispatches medical team to Calabar

Ten persons have been quarantined after coming into contact with a patient with Ebola-like symptoms in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, officials said on Thursday, a year after Nigeria was declared free of the disease.
This is even as he Federal Government on Thursday confirmed that it has dispatched a team of medical team to Calabar to ascertain the suspected Ebola scare.
A patient came to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital on Wednesday with symptoms consistent with the viral hemorrhagic fever, staff of the hospital said.
He was reported to have died at about 2pm, after symptoms related to the deadly Ebola virus manifested before he finally passed away.
The the patient, whose identity could not be ascertained, was brought in from Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state with high body temperature while at the same time was vomiting, stooling and bleeding from nose.
The patient died shortly after samples were taken from him for investigation.
“We have sent blood samples for testing and quarantined identified contacts,” the hospital’s chief medical director, Queeneth Kalu, said, just as the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed that 10 people were in quarantine.
However, the Federal Ministry of Health has ruled out the case of Ebola, saying that it suspected that the patient could have died of Haemorrhagic fever.
According to the Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Prof. Abdulsalam Nasidi, a team has been dispatched to Calabar to verify the case.
He said: “The NCDC team is on the ground and containment measures are already being put in place. The samples are being tested and we should know (the result) by tomorrow (Friday).
“The Federal Ministry of Health is sending additional support tomorrow (Friday).”
Nasidi also said that the government is awaiting the result of the laboratory investigation.
He assured Nigerians that there was nothing to fear about as appropriate measures have been taken to protect the people and even those who might have had contact with the patient.
Nasidi confirmed that the Hospital accident and emergency ward has already been quarantined in order to curtail any spread in the eventuality that it was a case of Ebola.