Fresh Ebola concern is beginning to sweep through the West African sub-region as a 17-year old boy died of the disease in Liberia.
This is coming 8 months after Nigeria was declared free of the deadly virus that killed not less than 8 persons including Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh and 3 other staff of First Consultant Hospital, Lagos, where the index case, Patrick Sawyer was treated.
Country representative of the World Health Organisation, Rui Gama Vaz, had warned that though the virus is cleared within Nigerian borders, it would not be time to celebrate yet, until the virus is totally wiped off the face of the sub-region.
“This is a spectacular success story that shows to the world that Ebola can be contained but we must be clear that we have only won a battle, the war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola.” He said.
Experts say Nigeria was able to contend with the outbreak due to the public awareness which prompted significant adjustment in public hygiene. Preventive measures were also introduced at the Nation’s Airports and land borders.
Since October last year when Nigeria received a clean bill of health as far as EVD was concerned, all those measures and practices seem to be forgotten.
The recent case in Liberia, where incidentally the man who imported ebola into Nigeria comes from, is therefore troubling for health experts particularly as not new case was reported in the past 7 weeks.
Deputy health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said tests confirmed that the teenager from Nedowein village, near the international airport, had died of the disease on 28 June.
Officials are investigating how he contracted Ebola, Mr Nyenswah said.
Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone had the vast majority of the 11,000 people killed by the disease since 2013.
