Medical doctor dies of Ebola in Port Harcourt

Nigeria’s fatality from Ebola Virus Disease has risen to six, with the death of a doctor in Port Harcourt, who secretly treated a diplomat who had contact with the first case of the disease in Nigeria.
Health Ministry spokesman, Dan Nwomeh, confirmed that the doctor had treated a primary contact of Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who brought Ebola to Lagos.
The doctor, Dr. Iyke Enemoah, is the first person to die of the highly fatal disease outside of Lagos, where the index case took ill on arrival from Liberia and was treated.
Health Minister, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, also said that the doctor had died on August 22, but the results of the tests have only just been made public.
There is however a discrepancy in the number of people under surveillance in the Garden City, as the health minister put the figure of persons under surveillance in the city at 70, while adding that his his wife has been put under quarantine.
But Rivers State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Samson Parker, said that 100 contact persons are under surveillance and that a 24-hour surveillance has been declared on all contacts, including patients of the late Dr Iyke Enemoah.
The diplomat, who has since recovered, was part of the team who met with Patrick Sawyer in Lagos.
The World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak, which has killed 1,427 people, is the largest ever Ebola epidemic and has infected an estimated 2,615 people.
Who is taking a long-term view of the crisis asit projects that it would take up to six months to finally contain the Ebola Virus spread.
Liberia has been hardest-hit of the affected countries, with 624 deaths and 1,082 cases since the start of the year.
The Director of the Centers for Disease Control, Tom Frieden, has said that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is going to get worse before it gets better.
The top US public health official said that the epidemic would need an “unprecedented” response to bring it under control.
Health ministers from across West Africa are due to meet in Ghana on Thursday to discuss the growing crisis.