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Nigeria considers asking for American experimental ebola drug

BusinessDay
2 Min Read

Nigeria is contemplating asking for a dose of the experimental Ebola drug given to two Americans to treat a Nigerian doctor who contracted the virus, said Jide Idris, commissioner for health in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos.

The female doctor who treated a Liberian victim of Ebola before he was diagnosed is receiving care in a hospital in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital  and Africa’s most populous city with about 21 million people.

Eight others have been quarantined with three awaiting testing.

Idris, speaking at a media conference, said the committee set up by the Nigerian government to manage the situation was taking necessary perceptional measures to stop the spread of the disease and that the contacts of the infected medical doctor are being traced for close examination.

For effectiveness in handling this emergency case, the commissioner said the committee had been divided into five units including contact tracing, case management, point of entry unit, publicity and data management unit.
 
The contact tracing is saddled with the responsibility of tracing contacts of infected person; case management unit has the role of managing established cases, while the point of entry manned by Customs and Immigration personnel is charged with the examination of persons entering Nigeria from the various borders.
 
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