Tension In Edo As Man Dies Of Ebola Symptoms

Information emanating from Edo State, western Nigeria, suggests that there was tension at Udo community in Orhiomwon Local Government Council because of the death of a middle aged man whom some residents of the community believe to have died of the dreaded Ebola Virus.

According to Vanguard report, the deceased, who passed away on Sunday, 10 August, 2014, was believe by some people to be an epileptic patient and died after an attack.
While other residents in the community are of the opinion that the deceased died as a result of the dreaded Ebola virus.

It was however, gathered that officials of the Ministry of Health in the state, visited the Udo community which is about one hour drive from Benin City, to collect the blood sample of the deceased with a view to ascertain the actual cause of death.

An official of the Ministry, who pleaded anonymity, told newsmen that they were alerted of the matter.

He added that: “So we immediately sent our officials to rush to the community to get the blood sample of the man who they said was dead already.
“Though we heard he was an epileptic patient but we just want to be sure about the cause of death. His corpse has been isolated and we can only talk more when the result of the test is out.
You remember that the state government had earlier came out to say we don’t have Ebola case in Edo, so if eventually we receive report of any case we will definitely tell the world because it is a serious matter.“

Meanwhile, investigation revealed that pandemonium broke out in the community when some villagers observed blood and foam in some parts of the body of the deceased.

It was gathered that as a result of the anxiety that the deceased could be suffering from the Ebola virus, the villagers covered their hands with cloths and bundled the sick body into an empty bus and ordered the driver to take the man to a hospital.

The driver was alleged to have refused to drive to the hospital and decided to bring down the sick body from his bus.

An eyewitness stated that it was during the situation that the middle aged man gave up the ghost forcing members of the community to flee their homes.

“We are scared because we have been watching adverts on

TV

by the state Ministry of Information telling us to be vigilance of signs like blood and fever. And the man was shivering and we saw blood and foam from his mouth and that was why everybody ran away,” a source at the community told Vanguard.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Lious Odion, while commenting on the matter urged the people of Edo State to remain vigilant and report any case of any persons suspected of being infected by Ebola virus disease.

No fewer than two people have been reported to have died as a result of the deadly Ebola virus in Lagos State.

The Minister of Health, Chukwu announced on Monday, 11 August, 2014 that two new cases of the disease have been recorded in Nigeria to make it 10 confirmed cases of Ebola virus in Nigeria.
The World Health Organization, WHO, believes about 1000 people of lost their lives in West Africa since February as a result of the outbreak of the Ebola virus.

The affected countries are Guinea, Sierre Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.