Ebola: Five patients near full recovery – Minister

Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister of Health, has said that five of the patients infected with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and treated at an isolation center are near full recovery while another patient, a female nurse was discharged Saturday evening.

In a press statement issued on Sunday, he stated that the experimental drug — nano silver — which he announced on Thursday 14 August would be deployed in treatment if cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee failed to meet the required standards.

He noted that as of Saturday 16 August, the total number of confirmed cases in the country was 12, adding that, four victims have died. The statement stated that the number of persons under surveillance in Lagos is 189, and six in Enugu.

He also announced that the patients under treatment have been moved to a new 40-bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos State Government, and that the federal government has provided additional equipment for facility.

With reference to nano silver, he said that other candidate drugs are now being evaluated by the Treatment Research Group for treatment of the disease.

“As soon as any of the experimental drugs is cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee and is made available, we shall include it in the treatment regimen subject to the informed consent of the patient,” the statement read.