Ebola: Trial drug, Nano Silva, expected in Lagos hospital
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu
'There is no confirmed Ebola case in Enugu'
Nigeria's first consignment of a trial drug for the Ebola treatment was expected in the country on Thursday, Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said.
He said that the trial drug, Nano Silva, would be used for the treatment of patients at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba, Lagos .
Prof. Chukwu, at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, also confirmed the that another nurse, who was one of the health workers that attended to the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who bought the EVD to Nigeria, had died of the Ebola virus disease.
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Chukwu said that Nano Silva was offered to the country by a Nigerian.
According to him, the decision to use the drug on the EVD patients is in line with the protocols of the National Health Research Ethics code.
He said, “What is new in the treatment is that in the last briefing, we told you of a Nigerian who had already offered the country one of the experimental drugs, the Nano Silva.
“Hopefully, today(Thursday), the drug would reach the treatment centre. It follows all the protocols as governed by the National Health Research Ethics codes of this country in using the Nano Silva as part of the treatment regimen.
“We are also in touch with the WHO to see how we can have the buy in, in the experimental drugs with the WHO. We have been in touch with various centres in the world.
“Hopefully, more of the experimental drugs will be available to be vetted by our committee (the Research Group) which was set up by the government two weeks ago to coordinate not only research, but all claims in terms of treatment.”
Nano Silver 10ppm has been shown by the United States Defence Department research to effectively inactivate/neutralise the Ebola virus. It is said to be identical to the silver used in the research.
The Silver solution (Nano Silver) has been shown to deal effectively with Ebola virus. Every disease causing organism against which it has been tested all around the world has been killed (bacteria) or inactivated (virus), the minister said.
The Health minister said that Nigeria had so far recorded four Ebola deaths. The four are Sawyer, who is the index case, two nurses and an ECOWAS protocol officer, Jatto Abdulqudir .
Chukwu said, “Out of these, four have died and six are currently under treatment. It is important to note that the number of confirmed cases remains 10 as of today (Thursday).
“The fourth death recorded today (Thursday) was a nurse, who participated in the initial management of the index case(Sawyer).
“The total number of persons under surveillance in Lagos is now 169. These are all secondary contacts as all the primary contacts have completed the 21-day incubation period and have been delisted to resume their normal lives.”
He added that Enugu State has six persons under surveillance because 15 out of those quarantined after complete evaluation were found not to have had any contact with a nurse who allegedly disobeyed medical advice and travelled to Enugu.
He said the nurse, who was “a primary contact of the index case who became symptomatic and tested positive and is one of the 10 confirmed cases.”
Chukwu said,” The nurse who had been placed under surveillance in Lagos disobeyed the Incidence Management Committee and travelled to Enugu.
“At the time she made the trip, she was yet to show any symptom and did not infect anyone on her way as transmission of the disease is only possible when a carrier of the virus becomes ill.
“However, she has since been brought back to Lagos. Before her return journey, she had become symptomatic and had to be conveyed to Lagos with her spouse in special ambulances.
“The husband is not symptomatic neither is he positive for the EVD but he has been quarantined given the intimate contact with her while in Enugu. It is therefore important to emphasise that there is no EVD in Enugu State.”