The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, may have begun contact tracing of a female student of the institution who is a suspected to have the Ebola virus disease.
A competent source, who was part of the team that held a meeting to deliberate on the case, told our correspondent in confidence that a team of doctors from Osun State Government met with the management of the OAU.
The source, who pleaded not to be mentioned, said that the management had started contact tracing to know how many people the suspected student had contact with since she came back to school.
The OAU student was said to have had contact with the Port Harcourt doctor who treated an ECOWAS diploma and later died of the virus.
The source said, "The lady had been moved to Lagos and we are all awaiting the result of the test. The Minister of Health will be the one to announce the result of her test.
"We met to decide on what to do if she test negative or if the result is positive. There is no cause for panic now. We all just have to be vigilant and do the needful. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water and avoid travelling to places where victims of the virus are."
There were rumours that three students who were close to the female student had been moved to Lagos State.
Specifically, it was said, they were taken to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex for examination.
However, the Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mr. Olu Bello, debunked the rumour.
He said that the hospital had no Ebola patient and people should stop peddling rumour which could cause panic in the town.
He said, "We have been carrying out seminars and enlightenment on EVD, especially on what people should know and what they should do in case they see anybody suffering from the disease."
But the Public Relations Officer, OAU, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, said he was not aware of any meeting over Ebola case on the campus.
He said that there was no case of Ebola at the OAU, saying that students and their relatives should not panic.
Meanwhile, Osun State Ebola Monitoring and Prevention Committee has organised a sensitisation workshop for leaders of transport unions in the state with a view to preventing the scourge from spreading to the state.
The Director of Primary Healthcare and Disease Control, Dr. Kayode Ogunniyi, advised transporters to be cautious in moving dead bodies from outside the state without requesting for its death certificate.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health in Osun State, Dr. Temitope Ilori, said the essence of the workshop was to teach the officers of the union how to prevent the scourge from getting into the state, being the gatekeepers that conveyed people out and into the state.
Punch:
http://www.punchng.com/news/oau-traces-suspected-patients-contacts/
SEPTEMBER 11, 2014 BY FEMI MAKINDE AND SODIQ OYELEKE
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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