Lagos Sate Government Advise- How To Deal With Ebola Virus

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A message coming from Lagos State Commissioner for Health Dr Jide Idris on the issue of Ebola virus and ways to prevent the virus from getting into the state and affecting the people. 

He advised the public to observe personal and environmental hygiene as part of precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of Ebola disease in the state, the commissioner said that Ebola was caused by a virus whose natural reservoir was not completely known, saying that fruits and bats had been considered to be the natural host of the virus. 

This message is coming as a result of the increase of the virus in some neighboring countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea with recorded number of cases leading to death from the virus already.

“The virus can be spread through close contact with the blood, body fluids, organs and tissues of infected animals as well as direct contact with blood, organs or body secretions of an infected person. “The transmission of the virus by other animals like monkey and chimpanzee cannot be ruled out,”  he said.

“Early symptoms of disease include fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, backache, and joint pains and the later symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, bleeding from the mouth and rectum, eye swelling, swelling of the genitals and rashes all over the body that often contain blood. It could progress to coma, shock and death.” 

The commissioner said individuals that are of high risk of getting infected are health workers, families or friends of an infected person who could be infected in the course of feeding, holding and caring for them. 

His advise include; washing of hands often with soap and water, avoiding close contact with people who are sick and ensuring that objects used by the sick are decontaminated and properly disposed. 

“The Lagos state government in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health is putting measures in place to prevent the entry and spread of Ebola in the country. “These measures include: sensitization of health workers, active search for cases of the disease, and continuous sensitization of the public, ” he said, while advising that any suspected case should be immediately reported to the state's Ministry of Health or any Local Government.