FG to male survivors of Ebola: Don’t have sex for seven weeks

Dr. Bridget Okoeguale, the Director of the Department of Public Health, gave advice during interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday that the Federal Ministry of Health has advised men who were treated and discharged of the Ebola virus to avoid sexual intercourse for at least seven weeks.

Okoeguale said this was in line with protocols issued by the World Health Organisation.

She said: “There are many literatures that say that after men are infected and the virus is not found in the blood, it tends to stay in the semen for about seven weeks to three months.

“We advice them to abstain from sex but where they cannot abstain, they are provided condoms and after the (abstinence) period, we double test to make sure they are free.”

On the treatment of Ebola patients, Okoeguale said no drugs or vaccinations were given to them, adding that health authorities had complied with WHO treatment protocol.

Okoeguale said everybody had his/her own body reaction, “so our own is to help build their immunity, give them fluid to replace lost fluid through vomiting and diarrhoea”.

She explained that the patients were also placed on electrolyte by intravenous fluid to avoid dehydration, adding that those who were anaemic had blood transfusion and that the supportive care that has helped us to be able to discharge more than five people,” 

The director also advised the general public to avoid crowded social gathering.

She said: “We are not advising people not to go to club or bar but if you have to just remember that you must keep your hands clean, avoid contact with as many people as possible.”

She urged Nigerians not to consider the disease as a death sentence and that recent cases had shown survival rates for patients were high with early detection and treatment.

Cameroon kills 27 Boko Haram militants in border clashes

The Boko Haram fighters were reported to have crossed Nigeria’s border into Cameroon earlier this week after attacking a military base and police station in Borno State, north east Nigeria.                  The attack was said to have apparently sent some 480 Nigerian troops retreating across the frontier.             

“Cameroon soldiers have killed 27 Boko Haram elements during an attack in a locality near Fotokol in the far-north,

It added that the deaths occurred on Monday and Tuesday but there was no word on any Cameroonian casualties.

A Cameroonian soldier in the region said the militants had been pushed back into Nigeria, with calm returning to the area on Wednesday.

In recent weeks, Boko Haram, which is seeking to carve out a de facto Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks in Cameroon.

It has forced the central African country to increase deployments along its jungle border.

But Cameroon has not always been successful in fending off Boko Haram raids.

Last month, President Paul Biya dismissed two senior army officers following attacks in which at least seven people were killed and the wife of the vice prime minister was kidnapped.

 

Ebola: Another infected Nigerian for discharge on Wednesday

Patrick Sawyer One of the primary contacts of the index case of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeriais is to be discharged from his isolation ward on Wednesday.

This followed the successful recovery of the victim, who was infected by the Liberian-American.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, who confirmed this on Monday, said so far Nigeria has 13 recorded cases of the EVD.

Chukwu said the reduction in the number of cases from 14 to 13 was as a result of the fact that one of those initially counted as having come down with the disease had tested negative.

Speaking through his media aide, Dan Nwomeh, the minister said: “One Ebola patient under treatment has recovered and almost ready for discharge.

Nwomeh, who made the announcement via his Twitter handle, further said: “Explanation for reduction from 14 to 13 is that the 14th case initially announced as positive turned out to be a false positive." Chukwu put the statistics for the EVD in Nigeria as five dead, five discharged and three undergoing treatment at the isolation ward run by the Lagos State Government in Yaba area of the state.

Nwomeh said Nigeria now has only three Ebola patients under treatment at the isolation ward with one of them to be discharged on Wednesday.”

OJB escapes death in Lagos auto crash

Top music producer OJB Jezreel, has again cheated death for the second time month after a successful surgery in India. 

This time it was in a car accident that occurred along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

It was learnt  that the accident occurred on August 10, while OJB was returning from a trip with his friend.

An eyewitness account reaching us indicate that he drove the car and lost control.

The car was reportedly shattered and damaged beyond repair, while both occupants sustained degrees of injuries.

After their treatment at an undisclosed hospital, OJB, we were told, has been on crutches.

He is however said to be recovering fast and would soon drop the crutches.

Ebola kills Liberia doctor despite ZMapp treatment

A Liberian doctor has died despite taking an experimental anti-Ebola drug.

Abraham Borbor was one of three doctors in Liberia who had been given ZMapp and were showing signs of recovery.

ZMapp has been credited with helping several patients recover, including two US doctors.

More than 1,400 people have died from Ebola this year in four West African countries – Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Borbor “was showing signs of improvement but yesterday he took a turn for the worse,” Liberian Information Minister, Lewis Brown, told the BBC.

“What this means for the drugs, I don’t know,” the minister added, without giving further details.

It is believed Dr. Borbor died in the capital Monrovia.

Dr. Borbor was the deputy chief medical doctor at the country’s largest hospital.

Liberia has recently imposed a quarantine in parts of Monrovia to try to stop the spread of the virus.

Last Thursday, police fired live rounds and tear gas during protests among residents of the city’s West Point slum.

Liberia has seen the most deaths – more than 570 – in what is now the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

UK isolation case

In a separate development on Monday, a UK volunteer nurse is being treated at a London hospital after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone – the first confirmed case of a Briton contracting the virus in the current outbreak.

William Pooley, 29, returned to the UK on Sunday and is being kept in a special isolation unit.

Supplies of Zmapp are thought to have been used up and he is not currently being treated with the drug.

However, officials have not ruled the use of Zmapp or similar treatments.

His family said he was receiving “excellent care”.

Meanwhile, Japan said it was ready to allow shipments of an experimental anti-viral drug to help combat the Ebola outbreak.

It is not clear whether T-705 (or Avigan) will actually work against Ebola, and no monkey or human trials of the drug have been done, the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo reports.

T-705 was developed by Japan’s Toyama Chemicals company for use against new strains of influenza.

It was approved by the Japanese government earlier this year.

Japan says it is ready to ship Avigan even without approval by the World Health Organization.

Prison term warning

Ebola is spread between humans through direct contact with infected body fluids and several doctors and health workers have died.

It is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, with up to 90 per cent of cases resulting in death, although in the current outbreak the rate is about 55 per cent.

The speed and extent of the outbreak was “unprecedented”, the World Health Organization said last week.

An estimated 2,615 people in West Africa have been infected with Ebola since March.

On Saturday, Sierra Leone’s parliament passed a new law making it a criminal offence to hide Ebola patients.

If approved by the president, those caught face up to two years in prison.

Iran nuclear probe reaches deadline, no word yet on outcome

  A deadline for Iran to answer U.N. nuclear watchdog questions about suspected atomic bomb research was reached on Monday without any immediate word on whether Tehran had provided the information.

Western officials have long said Iran must address the U.N. agency's suspicions about its work and that this would be an important boost for parallel diplomatic efforts to end a decade-old dispute over the country's nuclear programme.

Washington and its allies have accused Iran of working to produce an atomic weapons capability, raising fears of a new Middle East war. Iran has dismissed the accusations, saying its work is focussed on generating electricity and other peaceful projects.

Diplomats told Reuters last week that the long-running inquiry by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) appeared to be making only slow headway, casting doubt on whether Iran would fully meet the Aug. 25 target date.

They said there was still time for Iran to respond to the questions, noting that it had occasionally waited until the last minute to make concessions in the past. Officials said Tehran might also provide the information a few days late.

There was no immediate comment from Tehran and the IAEA said it would not comment on the issue on Monday. Diplomats say the watchdog may only release details of any Iranian response in its next quarterly report, expected in early September.

The Islamic republic has promised to cooperate with the IAEA since Hassan Rouhani, widely seen as a pragmatist, was elected Iranian president in mid-2013.

Tehran agreed in May to take five steps by late August, including information on alleged explosives experimentation, and studies related to calculating nuclear explosive yields.

Western diplomats say Iran needs to help clear up the IAEA's suspicions if it wants to reach a broader diplomatic deal in the separate negotiations with the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia.

Those talks are focussed on persuading Iran to curb its atomic activities in exchange for a lifting of sanctions that are hurting its oil-dependent economy.

With major gaps remaining over what will be permitted in Iran's uranium-enrichment programme - activity which can have both civilian and military uses - those talks were extended in July until Nov. 24.

After years of what the West saw as Iranian stonewalling, Iran as a first step in May gave the IAEA information about why it was developing exploding bridge wire detonators, which can be used to set off atomic explosive devices. Iran says they are for civilian use.

The areas that the IAEA wants Iran to address were listed in a report published in the watchdog in 2011 that included a trove of intelligence indicating a concerted weapons programme that was halted in 2003, when Iran came under increased international pressure. The intelligence also suggested some activities may later have resumed.

Japan ready to offer flu drug for Ebola treatment

 Japan said Monday it is ready to provide a Japanese-developed anti-influenza drug as a possible treatment for the rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that Japan can offer favipiravir, developed by a subsidiary of Fujifilm Holdings Corp., at any time at the request of the World Health Organization.

Suga said Japan is watching for a decision by WHO that would provide more details on the use of untested drugs. In case of an emergency, Japan may respond to individual requests before any further decision by WHO, he said.

WHO said earlier this month that it is ethical to use untested drugs on Ebola patients given the magnitude of the outbreak.

The drug, developed by Fujifilm subsidiary Toyama Chemical Co. under the brand name Avigan to treat new and re-emerging influenza viruses, was approved by Japan's health ministry in March. Fujifilm is in talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on clinical testing of the drug in treating Ebola, company spokesman Takao Aoki said.

The company has enough stock of favipiravir for more than 20,000 patients, Aoki said.

He said Ebola and influenza viruses are the same type and a similar effect can theoretically be expected for Ebola.

Several drugs are being developed for the treatment of Ebola. They are still in the early stages and there is no proven treatment or vaccine for the often fatal disease.

Favipiravir inhibits viral gene replication within infected cells to prevent propagation, while other anti-viral drugs often are designed to inhibit the release of new viral particles to prevent the spread of infection, the company said.

Recently, two American doctors recovered from Ebola after being treated with the experimental drug ZMapp, though it was unclear whether they were cured by the drug.

ZMapp, developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., had never been tested on humans, although an early version worked in some Ebola-infected monkeys. It is aimed at boosting the immune system's efforts to fight off Ebola.

Ebola has killed more than 1,400 people in West Africa in the latest outbreak.