Ebola: Concern At Commonwealth Games; Two Quarantined In Nigeria


By Robert    01-Aug-2014 14:42 UTC+02:00

 

Photocred: UN

Photocred: UN

The outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa is causing shockwaves globally as fears mount and the nations battle to contain it.

With Liberia and Sierra Leone issuing warnings at a national level, calling in their respective defence forces and quarantining any people suspected of being afflicted with the virus, the fear of the virus is increasing globally, as displayed by the hasty hospitalisation of an athlete competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Moses Sesay, a cyclist from the West African nation of Sierra Leone, revealed that he was placed into isolation and hospitalised for four days whilst he underwent observation and testing for the Ebola virus. Sesay had reportedly expressed that he was feeling unwell and he later developed various fever-related symptoms.

Sierra Leone and its West African counterparts, Liberia and Guinea have been experiencing the worst Ebola outbreak in history, with 672 people dying from the virus since the outbreak earlier this year.

Sesay was, however, given the thumbs up to compete on Thursday and competed in the cycling road race time-trial.

Although he has been cleared of suspicion of the virus, he has stated that he and other competitors from Sierra Leone are uneasy about returning home and plan to stay in Scotland for the full three months that their visa permits, in order to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has also expressed concern about the deadly virus entering their border and quarantined two people who came into contact with a man who died from the virus in a private Lagos hospital. The deceased was a 40 year old man from Liberia, who was treated in Nigeria for the disease. All of the healthcare practitioners who took care of him are being monitored closely to prevent spread of the disease. Nigeria’s Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, explained that to date, “69 are under surveillance and two quarantined.” He stated that those under surveillance will remain so for a period of, “three weeks at least.”

The entire hospital where the Liberian man died had to be briefly shut down in order to fully decontaminate the area and remove the body from site to be buried.

As of today, Nigeria has not yet closed its borders, but Chukwu explained that if an Ebola outbreak does occur in the nation, they will be forced to do so in order to prevent spread and further infection.


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