- Nigeria cannot go to sleep with the resurgence of EVD in Liberia
Just when the world thought the threat from the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) had become inconsequential, the potential consequences of a new death from the affliction in Liberia, which was declared Ebola-free on May 9, has justifiably set the alarm bells ringing again. The country was labelled safe after the standard 42 days without infections.
But all that has changed with the news of the death of an unnamed Liberian teenager, whose body tested positive for Ebola, prompting official efforts to trace people he may have had contact with. It is disturbing that Liberia has announced two more confirmed cases of Ebola infection resulting from physical contact with the 17-year-old victim before his death on June 28 in Margibi County, a rural area near the capital, Monrovia.
Even more unsettling, health officials appear clueless on how the victim caught the virus. To compound the development, there is speculation that he could have been infected by an entirely new variant of the virus from an animal such as a fruit bat, rather than from a human. There is also a worrying possibility that Ebola is alive and well under the surface, outside the focus of local or international health personnel. The virus is transmitted through body fluids, and symptoms of infection include diarrhoea, vomiting, internal haemorrhaging and external bleeding.
Tragically, a total of 11,207 people have died from Ebola in Liberia, neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone since the December 2013 outbreak, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO); and about 43 percent of those deaths were in Liberia where the epidemic claimed hundreds of cases a week between August and October last year. Although WHO figures suggest that the spread of the virus has been arrested with only 12 new confirmed cases reported in Guinea and eight in Sierra Leone as at June, the fresh Liberian case has introduced a complication.
The situation is grave enough for Nigeria, which shares the West African sub-regional space with the countries at the heart of the Ebola epidemic, making it geographically vulnerable. This reality was captured by the spokeswoman for the U.N. Ebola response mission, Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, in a reaction to the latest Ebola death in Liberia. “This should have been expected because as long as there is Ebola in the region, no one country can be safe. Liberia is vulnerable because of Guinea and Sierra Leone,” she was quoted as saying. In truth, so also is Nigeria because of its sub-regional neighbours.
The Liberian experience should be regarded and treated as a serious alert by the Nigerian authorities. In the circumstances, it would amount to sheer ostrichism if Nigeria chooses to bask in complacency on account of the declaration by WHO in October last year that the country had become Ebola-free, following a difficult four-month period during which 20 Ebola cases and eight related deaths were recorded. It is worth recalling that Nigeria’s Ebola problem was triggered by the entry of an infected Liberian into the country.
It is relevant to quote the statement by WHO country representative in Nigeria, Rui Gama Vaz, saying that the Ebola storm was over. He said: “WHO officially declares that Nigeria is now free of Ebola virus transmission. The virus is gone for now. The outbreak in Nigeria has been contained. But we must be clear that we only won a battle. The war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola.”
As things stand, Nigeria should be vigilant to prevent an unwanted Ebola reappearance and ensure that its response capacity is primed. The development calls for protective measures based on a proactive approach. The country must not be caught napping.
