10/15/2014

EBOLA IN NIGERIA-MISCONCEPTIONS

Ebola is a terrible disease. Fortunately, Nigeria did a splendid job of eradicating the recent epidemic. Nigeria had 20 cases of ebola with 8 deaths-better mortality than any other country. The last diagnosed case was August 31, 2014.  All people in Nigeria who were sick with Ebola have now either died or recovered. Contacts of these patients have completed their 21-day monitoring period and are no longer at risk for getting sick with Ebola. The country is safe (at least as concerns ebola)

Common misconceptions:

1. There is active ebola in Nigeria.

2. West Africa is one country! Most people I speak with believe this! West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subregion of the African continent. West Africa has been defined in Africa as including the 17 countries Benin, Burkina Faso, island of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe and Togo.

Therefore, it is meaningless to discuss "ebola in West Africa". It would be similar to referring to ebola in Southwestern USA. In fact, there is only ebola in Dallas.

3. Obviously, since there is no ebola in Nigeria, restricting travel to this area will do nothing to help the current epidemics.

4. Rejecting Nigerian students from American colleges will not stop ebola