Member, House of Representatives for Port Harcourt Constituency 2, Hon. Blessing Nsiegbe represented by Mrs Doris Ejegwu (left), presenting a gift to Alhaji Aribiton Okiri on behalf of Muslim women during the Sallah celebration in Port Harcourt last Wednesday. Photo: Obinna Prince Dele

Scientists under the aegis
of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria in Cross River State are calling on the Federal Government to urgently put in place effective emergency response mechanism to prevent the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.
They made their position known last Tuesday, Chairman of the association, Gloria Archibong, said  at a one-day workshop in Calabar on  “Ebola Virus: An emerging global challenge.” That it has become imperative for the Nigeria public to be properly educated as the threat was on the increase daily.
She said, “If it has come as close as Ghana, and there has been report of another Liberian who flew into the country, then it is only wise for us to put effective emergency response mechanism in place and also enlighten the people on its prevention because the virus has no cure for now.
“I also want to believe that the virus is not here. But the reason why Cross River may be at risk is because we actually have bat eating communities and we are a bush meat eating people too. Fruits, bats and monkeys are the major reservoirs of the virus, the Federal Government really needs to sensitise our people.” she added.
Also speaking, a consultant microbiologist at the University of Calabar, Prof. Michael Useh, said it was time for Nigeria to take the threat of the virus serious “because it is possible for the virus to come into the country due to the nature of the outbreak, which was discovered in 1976 and has since been occurring and reoccurring. It is important we put measures in place.
“If it can come as close as Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana, then we must be prepared.  We must rigorously enlighten Nigerians because the mortality rate of the virus is about 90 per cent and it has no known cure for now.For the fact that some species of bat are responsible, even though we have not carried out epidemiology test, we have high rain forest zones and when this virus was first discovered, it was carried by bats in a rainforest zone,” Useh said.