NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 25: A young man, dressed in a biohazard costume, stands on the corner of 546 West 147th Street on October 25, 2014 in New York City. After returning to New York City from Guinea, where he was working with Doctors Without Borders treating Ebola patients, Dr. Craig Spencer was quarantined after showing symptoms consistent with the virus. Spencer was taken to Bellevue hospital to undergo testing where he was officially diagnosed with the Ebola virus on October 23. Bryan /AFP
ABUJA — The National Coordinator, Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Abdusalam Nasidi, yesterday, said Nigeria had taken adequate measures to contain the resurgence of Ebola virus disease in the country.
Nasidi said this in an interview in Abuja.
He said the measures are in response to the recent resurgence of the disease in neighbouring Liberia which had earlier been certified Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation, WHO.
Nasidi said that screening had been intensified at strategic entries in the country, with the establishment of a rapid respond team and an emergency response centre, at the federal level.
He said: “There are automatic temperature scanning cameras mounted at strategic places which take one’s temperature and other parameters.
“If it indicates a high temperature, such an individual would be apprehended and taken into isolation immediately. With this level of preparedness, I don’t think that the diseases can take us by surprise anymore.”
Nasidi further said that CDC had been working with various scientists from Germany, Guinea and other counties to discover other possible causes and the prevention of Ebola.
He said the CDC had organised trainings for medical personnel and volunteers, adding that some of the programmes were still ongoing in various states in the country.
He said that during the outbreak of Ebola in Liberia in 2014, 211 Nigerian experts were sent to the country and Sierra-Leone, as part of African support to Ebola in West Africa.
“We were able to assist the countries to reactivate health care services which led to a drastic reduction of the epidemic before its resurgence,” he said.
Nasidi said that in order to fully contain the disease, the National Orientation Agency had been involved in educating people in various languages, mostly on the danger of consuming bush meat.
He warned that the consumption of bat meat remained the main source of picking up the virus.
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