Avoid sick persons in this period of Ebola virus

What would be the role of PHC in the control of the virus?This meeting would  address the apprehension and concern about the role of PHC in the control of Ebola. You will recall that Nigeria has porous borders, and Ebola has no cure, the first strategy is to prevent the virus from spreading to other […]

What would be the role of PHC in the control of the virus?
This meeting would  address the apprehension and concern about the role of PHC in the control of Ebola. You will recall that Nigeria has porous borders, and Ebola has no cure, the first strategy is to prevent the virus from spreading to other human beings.

If a case is discovered in the rural communities, are the PHC equipped to handle that?
We know we have challenges with even our health facilities throughout the country, we have a lot of PHC facilities but the content of these facilities is the issues, that is the man power and capacity.
One of the reasons why we have called all these chief executive officers is to agree on what we can do with the limited resources at the PHC , so that we maximize and take advantage of the knowledge over resources that are available.
You don’t need to be an expert to manage an infectious disease, its common  sense science, what am trying to say indirectly is that even if there are no sophisticated weapons, simple preventive measures like, washing your hands, teaching people not to eat what they are not supposed to like, bush meat, making sure that when someone has fever or malaria, cough, there is no sentiment about it you have to keep a distance, even if its your child, keep a distance and if you are suspecting that something is unusual go to the nearest health facility. If a child has fever and you give paracetamol and it does not go, please be very careful especially during this era, it may be anything, the initial suspicion is that it could be malaria, but it could be anything.

How exactly can one get infected by the Ebola virus?
Any fluid in the body can pass the virus, the Ebola virus multiply and duplicate in millions over a short period of time, and go throughout the body system and so all the fluids in the body can be infected. And because the Ebola virus itself has some characteristics that is called the reproductive number, a small fluid contains million of this Ebola virus and a single Ebola viron is capable of affecting hundreds of people, as opposed to a virus like the measles virus, where a single measles virus may affect eight or ten people, this is unlike what happens in the Ebola virus. Any fluid in the body, from sweat, saliva, blood which is the most dangerous, semen, discharges from the eyes, nose, stool and others can spread the virus.

What would you say to Nigerians who delight in issuing out false information about the Ebola virus?
Nigerians need to improve on their health seeking behaviors and attitude, our personal hygiene and environmental hygiene.  When you go to the market or supermarket, or go to any public place and come home, I advise that you get a sanitizer and clean your hands, I will advise that if you are going to have contact with anybody and you suspect that the person is not feeling well stay away from that person. It is difficult, but there are moral issues there, for instance if your child has fever are you going to abandon your child, but there is no morality here we are talking of the reality, because this infection knows no bond, knows no mother or father.
We need to spread this message widely it is everybodys business. Please this is not about the Ministry of Health, or PHC, the media has a strong role to play. There is no scientific evidence to show that water and salt or bitter kola can prevent or cure Ebola.
The story of bitter kola which people have referred to on the internet is the fact that, the ingredients has been used in experiment to stop the growth of Ebola virus in animal., it has not been used in human beings and before that can be done it has to go through clinical trials, from stage one to three.
The best strategy is to prevent it.
All health workers have been advised to protect themselves and be well kitted when attending to a patient, being well kitted is an advantage, there is nothing like over kitted neither is there anything like under reporting or over reporting, information is power.