The 15 staff members at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) who were quarantined in an episode of Ebola virus scare in Nigeria have been released, according to official hospital statement.
The said medical staff – including one doctor, nine nurses, four health workers, and one patient – was quarantined on Oct. 7 following the death of a patient who showed symptoms akin to viral hemorrhagic fever.
The tertiary health center also temporarily shut down its Accident and Emergency (AandE) ward, decontaminating the area after the recorded death. A temporary AandE ward was set up in the hospital.
In a release issued Oct. 10, Dr. Queeneth Kalu, chair of the Medical Advisory Committee, said that preliminary tests have ruled out Ebola and Lassa fever. Further testing aligned with international standards is being conducted for confirmation.
“The quarantined staff have been released for twice daily self-monitoring,” Dr. Kalu reported in the press briefing, adding that all clinical services at the hospital are open on both inpatient and outpatient basis.
The National Center for Disease Control also facilitated a hospital sensitization seminar, she said.
The suspected Ebola episode started on Oct. 7, after which the UCTH staff who had contact with the patient were quarantined and whose blood samples were sent to Beinin and Irrua to be tested.
After the decontamination performed by officials of the Medical Response Unit, Center for Disease Control, and Federal Ministry of Health, team leader and environmental health director John Kehinde advised medical personnel to go about their normal work routine.
“There is no cause for alarm. They should continue their work without fear because everything is now okay, but they should ensure that the environment where they work is always clean,” said Kehinde, saying that the decontamination with last 72 hours before reopening the facility to staff and patients in cases of contagious infection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week that no person tested positive for Ebola virus from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 in the three West African countries at the heart of the deadly epidemic, namely Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. It was the first week with no new Ebola cases recorded since the outbreak erupted in March 2014.
Photo: Army Medicine | Flickr
