NNPC shusts Clinic in Lagos

 NNPC shuts clinic in Lagos

Earlier yesterday, The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced the indefinite shutdown of its clinic in the Muri Okunola area of Victoria Island, Lagos, following a suspected case of Ebola virus on admission at the clinic.

It was discovered that the

patient visited the First Consultant Medical Centre during the period the first Ebola case was reported at that clinic.

The Corporation in statement explained that the pre-emptive step was taken after the case was duly reported to the Federal Ministry of Health as well as officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health.
“In the meantime, all contacts with this case are being traced and adequate precautionary measures instituted to contain the possible spread of the disease. The medical team has assured that the patient is in stable condition,” the Corporation stated.

Ebola's spread to US is 'inevitable' …
Meanwhile, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has admitted that Ebola's spread to the United States was inevitable “due to the nature of global airline travel, but any outbreak is not likely to be large.”

“More cases of Ebola moving across borders via air travel are expected, as West Africa faces the largest outbreak of the hemorrhagic virus in history.

"It is certainly possible that we could have ill people in the US who develop Ebola after having been exposed elsewhere," ” said Tom Frieden, the head of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We are all connected and inevitably there will be travelers, American citizens and others who go from these three countries - or from Lagos if it doesn't get it under control - and are here with symptoms. But we are confident that there will not be a large Ebola outbreak in the US,” he added.

Last month, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian finance ministry employee who was also a naturalized American citizen, brought the virus to Lagos.

A Saudi Arabian man who had recently traveled to Sierra Leone and showed Ebola-like symptoms died Wednesday of a heart attack, but authorities in Riyadh did not reveal the results of Ebola tests that were done on the man.

Ebola first emerged in 1976, and has killed more than 1,500 people since then. Within weeks, the death toll from this outbreak alone is expected to surpass that number.

US Vows to See Africa Through…
A former US ambassador to Nigeria, Howard S. Jeter, has promised that the US will not leave Africa in limbo over the fight against Ebola virus until a cure for the deadly disease is found soonest.

Jeter, who was also the special envoy for Liberia and worked closely with Nigeria to end the civil war in Liberia under US former President, Bill Clinton, said the US had made adequate preparations to eradicate the disease and have dispatched a team of experts from the Centre for Disease Control to West Africa for support.

The former envoy made the statement during an award and dinner night organised by Sir Emeka Ofor Foundation at the 10th International Wheelchair and Amputees Sports (IWAS) at Stoke Mandeville, near London, UK.