Medical Doctor Describes How Woman Contracted Ebola From Patrick Sawyer

A medical doctor has described how a nursing mother who is one of the confirmed cases of the Ebola virus in Lagos contracted the disease while pregnant and attending her antenatal care at First Consultant Hospital in Obalende, Lagos where the first victim of Ebola virus in Nigeria, Patrick Sawyerr, died.

The lady was confirmed to have the deadly disease after testing positive at the NNPC staff clinic on Muri Okunola street in the Victoria Island area of Lagos.

Speaking anonymously with Punch, the doctor said;

‘The lady attended ante-natal at First Consultant prior to the arrival of the Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer. She was delivered of her baby at the hospital after which she was discharged. A few weeks later, Mr. Sawyer came around and was attended to by health workers. He was first treated for malaria, then typhoid, before there was high index of suspicion. He tested positive for Ebola and died. Then the woman, who gave birth at the hospital came back to the hospital for her baby’s immunization. The nurses who attended to Sawyer also attended to her. When she visited the place again last week, she discovered the place had been shut down for proper fumigation as a means of control against Ebola.”

Seeing that the hospital has been shut down, the lady who had started showing signs of fever proceeded to the NNPC staff clinic which was close by.

‘She was first treated for Malaria. However, after some medical tests, there was a high suspicion of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. On Friday, the Lagos State’s emergency response team on Ebola virus came around and took her to the Infectious Diseases Hospital.”

The management of the hospital after confirming she had the deadly virus immediately shut down the hospital indefinitely.

Confirming the doctor’s report, the Medical Officer of Health, Iru-Victoria Island Local Council Development Area, Dr. Wale Akeredolu, said the woman’s baby has been quarantined and is under surveillance.

“The baby has also been quarantined to see if after the incubation period of two to 21 days, she would manifest the symptoms of Ebola.”