The specimens which were sent from all over the country include mainly those of the late Sawyer's contacts while he was being treated. However, as the blood and fluid samples kept trooping to LUTH, Chief Medical Director, Prof. Akin Osibogun said none has tested positive except that of the late Liberian.
He confirmed that the hospital has screened at least 20 blood/fluid specimen for the deadly Ebola virus and are still expecting many more. He however, said that the good thing is that LUTH laboratory has the capacity the tests which involves high technology.
"LUTH has the capability to make the diagnosis and I am sure you must have heard that the specimens were sent to this hospital and the diagnosis was made in this hospital. We have the technology to detect the virus or it products or its parts through DNA.
"The specimens keep coming to LUTH because that of the Liberian patient was only one but we have received more than one specimen. None have tested positive so far. I don't know the exact figure at this point but at one point we had well over 20 specimens that have been tested from 20 different contacts, people who likely came in contact with the late Liberian.
"But it is a continuous process. That 20 may not be a figure to work with because they keep sending specimens and facility is available to test them."
He noted that Ebola virus diseases has an incubation period of two to 21 days, noting that, the use of incubation period is that it is used to quarantine the patient. "If you keep a patient for one month and the virus does not manifest, the suspect might be let out of quarantine. But what is important is to watch out for signs and symptoms."
Osibogun advised that at this point in time it is important to bear in mind how the disease is transmitted. "It is usually any contact with any body fluid, blood, sweat and saliva.
"We must wash our hands as often as possible so as to reduce our chances of contamination. It is going to be difficult avoiding crowded places."
He also disclosed that in a disease outbreak like Ebola it is needful to corroborate lab results with a second laboratory to ensure accuracy of result, which they have been doing since the case of the late Liberian.
He said LUTH has set in motion a team to handle any eventuality arising from an unexpected spread of the disease. "We put in place isolation mechanism, and barrier mechanisms. Everything is on standby in the event there is any case in the hospital.
"With regard to enlightening the people, that is being done by the Lagos state Ministry of Health and federal Ministry of Health. Where they have health education units to educate members of the public on how to protect themselves against exposure and to recognize and to have a high level index of suspicion.
"So that if there is any suspected case the report is quickly made. I think we should commend private hospitals because they demonstrated high index of suspicion. Though they said every one demonstrates a high index of suspicion because every one of us has a lot headache but they were able to keep the patient and decline patient from going out of the hospital and they immediately alerted federal and state authorities.
Source: PM News
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