Welcome survivors back –US

Leader of the team of medical experts from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deployed in Nigeria, Dr. John Vertefeuille, has said that the country is in a “fairly stable period” of the outbreak.

The Johns Hopkins University trained epidemiologist stated that the discharge of five patients who had been undergoing treatment for the Ebola virus disease was a pointer to the “incredible job” done by the Nigerian health authorities and its foreign partners, especially the US government.

Vertefeuille spoke in Lagos on Tuesday during a press conference jointly addressed by him and the US Consul General, Jeffrey Hawkins.

Vertefeuille, who heads a team of eight American disease detectives helping to combat the EVD in Nigeria, however, stated that Nigerians should not stigmatise the survivors.

The survivors included three doctors, a nurse and a patient who was at the First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, when   Sawyer’s case was being managed.

According to the American expert, the five survivors are not at risk of transmitting the disease to any members of their communities.

Although he insisted that there was no cure for Ebola, he noted that there is effective treatment for the highly contagious disease.

He said, “Because of the nature of Ebola, there is actually a very specific plan that is followed before a patient is discharged, and by the time the patient is discharged, they are not at risk of transmitting the disease in the community.

“The assessment includes some periods of doing clinically well, being monitored for several days to ensure that the symptoms have subsided alongside laboratory testing to ensure that we are not seeing the virus in the blood.

“It is a very positive story and we hope the community will welcome back those coming out of the facility (Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, Lagos) and that, like any other disease, they went through the EVD and survived it.”

Vertefeuille noted that some instructions have been clearly given to the survivors on how they should protect themselves as they go through their wellness period.

He said that the US Mission in Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian health authorities have put in place a social support system to help the survivors overcome stigmatisation as they re-enter their communities.