The death of a patient suspected to have contracted the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD has caused panic among doctors and patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, Lagos.
A doctor at the teaching hospital, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development on Tuesday. The doctor said that the patient was brought into the hospital by port health officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, on Monday.
The doctor who was on duty when the patient was admitted into the Accident and Emergency Unit, said the patient was vomiting blood and stooling, symptoms which are similar to that of an Ebola Virus Disease patient, before he died in the early hours of Tuesday at the Spill-Over ward of the hospital.
“They rushed him to the Accident and Emergency Unit, and since he was vomiting and purging and he also had high fever, we quickly took his temperature, it was very high. We had to take him out of the emergency ward to the other spill-over ward to avoid any form of contamination. We also reported to the Lagos State Government so that they can take him to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba for proper treatment. But he had started vomiting blood by this morning, and few hours after he died,” the doctor said.
The doctor, who confirmed that the patient has no history of Ebola, stressed that the cause of his death would be investigated at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, where his corpse has been transferred.
“They will need to establish the cause of death, so as to be able to know whether to quarantine those that he had contact with from the airport to the hospital. LUTH does not have the facilities to handle any suspected case of Ebola, government should know that, so they don’t keep bringing suspected cases here. All suspected cases should be taken to IDH,” the source said.
Meanwhile Akin Oshibogun Chief Medical Director, LUTH, also confirmed the incident adding that the cause of the death of the patient is still being investigated.
“We have been able to establish that this patient has no history of Ebola or any contact with a person that had Ebola. We are only trying to investigate the patient. If there is any new thing, we will let you know. As long as we are in the hospital, from time to time, we will always have high index suspicion and most times these patients turn out to be negative,” Oshibogun said.
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