Ebola in Nigeria Case Study

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Ebola Epidemics – Challenges & Containment In Nigeria

Ebola and Its Origins

There is no known origin of the Ebola virus that emerged with a vengeance in 2014 in West Africa. And while there had been numerous other documented cases of Ebola in Africa, the outbreaks had always been much smaller and confined to a particular locale. In 2014, however, tens of thousands of infections occurred, ranging across seven different African countries (Mari-Saez, Weiss & Nowak, 2015). What caused the outbreak is unclear, though some researchers have speculated that the fruit bat may be, if not the primary source of the virus, at least a transmitter of the virus to humans (Hassanin et al., 2016).

Transmission, Symptoms of Ebola

The fruit has been shown to be a host carrier of the Ebola virus in Africa (Hassanin et al., 2016). As the fruit bat is a source of food in Africa and considered a delicacy, it has been identified as the likeliest source of transmission. Other sources of transmission include the “ingestion of fruit contaminated with Ebola-infected bat saliva or feces” (Alexander et al., 2015). Symptoms of the virus include “headache, myalgias, arthralgias, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, new skin rash, and unexplained bruising or bleeding,” both internally and externally, which can lead to low blood pressure and death (Cardile et al., 2015).


Ebola in Nigeria

Ebola first appeared in Nigeria during the 2014 outbreak in West Africa that started in Guinea. After spreading from Guinea, Ebola penetrated Liberia. A traveler from Liberia flew into Lagos, Nigeria on 20 July 2014, was identified as being very sick and died 5 days later. This was the “index patient” in Nigeria and was believed to have “potentially exposed 72 persons at the airport and the hospital” (Shuaib et al., 2014, p. 867). The potential outbreak was contained, however, thanks to the swift action of the Federal Ministry of Health, which received oversight from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. An Ebola emergency was declared. 19 lab-confirmed cases followed the death of the index patient on 25 July 2014. Nearly 900 more contacts were identified. 8 more patients died. 11 patients were effectively treated and discharged. No new cases emerged (Shuaib et al., 2014).

Nigerian Containment Strategy

The containment strategy in Nigeria was to quickly identify the virus and enact an Ebola emergency by establishing an Ebola Incident Management Center, which would….....

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