Ebola: US Commends Nigeria as Four More Patients are Discharged

The US government has commended the Nigerian government and its health authorities for their handling of the Ebola virus since it broke in Lagos last month.

The US' commendation came on the back of more good news yesterday that four more patients who had contracted the disease had been discharged and declared free of the infectious disease.

With their discharge, this brings the total number of people who have been given the all clear to five.

A total of 12 people were struck with the virus in Nigeria, including the index case Patrick Sawyer, of which four have died, five have been discharged while three remain in the isolation ward at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.

However, all hopes that the US would send the ZMapp experimental drug to Nigeria were dimmed yesterday when the US government ruled out the possibility, saying there were insufficient quantities of the drug available.

Making this known when he visited the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, in Abuja, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, informed reporters that what was needed was to focus primarily on isolation and the screening of patients or those suspected to have contracted the virus.

According to Entwistle: “We'll see down the road what is possible. But there are no huge quantities now. And we think the focus now needs to be on exactly what you are doing: the isolation wards, screening, and especially important that now your government is doing a very good job on this, that is contact tracing.”

The envoy said he just came back from the US late last week, adding, “I was in Washington, of course, for the US-African Leaders Summit and I came over to see the minister right away as soon as I got back into town to discuss our anti-Ebola cooperation.

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