Anxiety as Ebola scare hits Ekiti

Ekiti State Government on Friday denied that an ill member of the National Youth Service Corps posted to the state had contacted the disease.

There was pandemonium at the NYSC orientation camp at Ise/Emure Ekiti when the corps member, whose name was withheld, collapsed.

The State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Olusola Fasuba, who confirmed the incident at an awareness creation forum in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, said it was unfortunate that people around the corps member fled and abandoned him when he collapsed.

He said upon investigation by a team of health workers, it was discovered that the corps member was only suffering form chronic fever.

Fasuba also said that the corps member’s blood samples were sent to Lagos for further confirmation and that the results showed that he did not have Ebola virus.

“The youth corps member has been removed from camp and is currently being kept at our isolated centre located within Oba Adejugbe General Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.

“As I speak, I assure residents that the health of the boy in question is already improving while he continues to show signs of good health,” he said.

Fasuba urged residents not to mistake common ailments such as chronic fever for the dreaded Ebola virus.

He warned rumour mongers to desist from spreading false information that could mislead or scare people, adding that government had taken some pro- active measures to prevent Ebola from spreading to the state.

He listed some of such steps to include banning of movement of unauthorised corpses into the state, the constitution of 30 technical committees as well as the creation of three isolated centres in Ado-Ekiti, Okemesi-Ekiti and Ifaki-Ekiti.

 

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