Panic tightened its grip on Abuja on Wednesday as Nigeria’s lone Ebola patient slipped into multiple organ failure and fear of contagion stormed the hallowed chamber of the National Assembly.Buy Maps
The patient, a female diplomat who flew into Abuja from Uganda on October 3, is fighting for her life in isolation after testing positive for the deadly Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus – a strain with no approved vaccine and no known cure.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, confirmed the grim turn, saying the woman’s condition deteriorated sharply days after she was diagnosed.
Olajumoke Babatunde, Director of Public Health Laboratory Service at the NCDC, told an emergency meeting in Abuja that three separate molecular tests pinned down the virus, a finding validated by the World Health Organisation, WHO.
Dr Odianosen Ehiakhamen, Incident Manager of the National Ebola Response, painted a troubling timeline: The diplomat landed on October 3, started feeling ill on October 7, but stayed away from hospital until October 11, with symptoms that looked like ordinary malaria.
By the time she walked into a private hospital in the FCT, the virus had taken hold. Now, 44 people – doctors, nurses, patients, caregivers and co-travellers who may have touched, helped or sat near her – are being tracked, traced and watched.
As doctors battle to save her in isolation, lawmakers are battling fear of their own.
■ Dramatic Moment on Senate Floor
In a dramatic moment on the Senate floor, Senate President Godswill Akpabio told colleagues that senators literally dodged his handshake as he entered the chamber.
Akpabio made the disclosure while leading debate on a motion to declare a national state of emergency over the outbreak. The handshake snub, he said, showed just how deep public anxiety has sunk.
Then Senator Adams Oshiomhole upped the drama, demanding that every senator absent from Wednesday’s sitting be quarantined before being allowed back.
“You can’t tell where they have been,” Oshiomhole warned, sparking murmurs and nervous laughter in the chamber.
Akpabio ordered immediate deployment of testing kits at the entrance to the Senate.
Outside the National Assembly, health authorities are on edge. The NCDC has activated full emergency mode – contact tracing, heightened surveillance, isolation protocols – and warned hospitals nationwide to treat every fever with suspicion.
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Nigerians have been urged to avoid contact with blood and body fluids, wash hands religiously and report any symptoms after possible exposure.Buy Maps
With one patient fighting organ failure, 44 contacts under watch and Senators afraid to shake hands, Abuja is holding its breath.
