US health
authorities said Friday they are sending extra personnel and resources to
Nigeria, which has declared a national emergency as it battles a deadly
outbreak of Ebola for the first time.“We are starting to ramp up our staffing
in Lagos,” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner
told AFP.“We are really concerned about Lagos and the potential for spread
there, given the fact that Lagos — and Nigeria for that matter — has never seen
Ebola.”Nigeria became the fourth West African country involved in the largest
Ebola outbreak in history when a dual US-Liberian citizen who was infected with
Ebola traveled by plane to Lagos on July 20. He died five days later.Eight
people who came in contact with him have been diagnosed with Ebola, and two
have died.Ebola has killed 932 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and
Nigeria since March, and has infected more than 1,700 according to the World
Health Organization.Experts say Ebola is out of control in West Africa, and the
WHO on Friday declared the epidemic an international health emergency and
appealed for global aid.In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan declared the
control and containment of the Ebola virus “a national emergency,” his office
said in a statement.He urged people to avoid large gatherings, and approved the
release of $11.6 million to fund measures against the spread of the virus,
including setting up isolation centers and increasing screening at borders.-
‘With a fury’ -Skinner said CDC personnel are in all affected countries, and
that several US personnel already on the ground in Nigeria.“We helped the folks
in Lagos set up an emergency operations center similar to what we do here that
can help with organizing the country’s response to the outbreak,” he said.The
US development agency USAID also announced a $12-million boost in aid to help
curb the outbreak in West Africa. The funding will be used to support CDC
experts and Red Cross campaigns in affected countries and to send equipment,
including 105,000 sets of protective gear for health workers.Earlier this week,
the CDC issued an all-hands alert that allows the agency to direct more funding
and staff to the crisis.CDC chief Tom Frieden told lawmakers on Thursday that
the agency already has 200 staff working on Ebola response, planned to
“increase that number substantially.”At the same hearing before a House
subcommittee, Ken Isaacs of the Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse warned
that the situation in Nigeria was likely to worsen.“Our epidemiologists believe
that what we are going to see is a spike in the disease in Nigeria,” said
Isaacs, vice president of programs and government relations.“It will go quiet
for about three weeks and when it comes out, it will come out with a fury.”The
incubation period of Ebola is 21 days, meaning it can take that long between
initial exposure to the virus and the appearance of symptoms.People become
contagious as soon as they begin exhibiting symptoms, which include fever,
muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes bleeding.Ebola first emerged in
1976, and there are no treatments or vaccines on the market.- ‘Stronger every
day’ -A pair of American missionaries who fell ill with Ebola while treating
patients in Liberia were given an experimental serum.Their health has improved,
though experts say it is unclear if the medication is the reason.Kent Brantly,
33, and Nancy Writebol, 60, were flown out of Liberia and are now being treated
at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.“I am growing stronger every
day, and I thank God for his mercy as I have wrestled with this terrible
disease,” Brantly wrote from his isolation unit Friday.“I held the hands of
countless individuals as this terrible disease took their lives away from them.
I witnessed the horror firsthand, and I can still remember .
Tags
Society