Ebola Syndrome: Two Cases Of Ebola Virus Confirmed In Portharcourt

Minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, confirmed on Thursday that two people in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have contracted Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). This is the first time an Ebola case would be confirmed outside Lagos since Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer introduced the virus to Nigeria
on July 20.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja today, the Minister confirmed the doctor who died on Friday Aug. 22nd in Portharcourt after secretly treating a diplomat who had direct contact with Patrick Sawyer, died from Ebola. He said laboratory analysis on his corpse showed it all.
"Following the report of his death by the doctor's widow the next day, the case had been thoroughly investigated and laboratory analysis showed that this doctor died from EVD (Ebola Virus Disease" the Minister told reporters in Abuja.
The Health Minister said that 70 people are under surveillance in the city, while his wife has been put under quarantine. However, the Rivers State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Samson Parker, said that 100 contact persons are under surveillance and that a 24-hour surveillance has been declared on all contacts, including patients of the late Dr Iyke Enemoah.