Is Ebola Disease Curable In Nigeria?

The Lagos State Govern
ment announced last Friday that two persons out of those who had contact with Patrick Sawyer, the dead Liberian Ebola victim, have manifested symptoms of fever.
The Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, made the disclosure when he addressed journalists on the update of the country‘s first Ebola case in Ikeja.
Idris said the two persons were among the 70 contacts being monitored and investigated for any symptoms of the disease by the state government and other partners.
The commissioner, who said the two cases were being observed however stressed that they did not test positive to the virus.
Mr. Idris said the state government would continue to monitor all contacts with the victim until the end of the 21 incubation day period of the virus.
The Federal Government had said on Thursday last week that it has placed 69 persons, who had first contact with the Liberian-born victim of  Ebola Virus, Patrick Sawyer, on surveillance, while two persons have been quarantined (isolated), the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said.
Sawyer had died in a Lagos hospital on Friday last week investigations indicated that the Liberian diplomat was slated to have meeting in Calabar until the disease caught up with him. Reports say his sister had died of similar disease sometime this year in Liberia, claiming that he might have contacted it from there.
Explaining on measures so far taken by the federal government, the minister stated, “We have a copy of the passengers’ manifest and we discovered that the sitting arrangement was free sitting. We are working with the airlines to track down those other passengers yet to be identified.
“As a Federal Government policy, we have not closed our borders, unless it becomes necessary. But the Aviation Minister is working with us in many aspects to make sure that the virus is not spread.”
Chukwu stated that contrary to some views, the disease “can be contacted on air even while airborne once you contact the droplets, adding that government was engaging the states right from the moment that the disease was first reported in Guinea.
He added, “Our rapid response team is in Lagos. Nigeria has been commended by WHO. Secondary contacts are also important. We are working with the Cross River State Government. We are not going to quarantine them but we have demanded their contact details.”
Chukwu commended the hospital, where the patient was managed, saying, “We commend them for the great job they have done. They did everything to keep the man alive but unfortunately, he passed on. We have ordered the closure of the hospital. The doctors are under surveillance; we are using WHO certified personal protective equipment.
“Doctors are at high risk but Nigerians should not panic,” he advised.
Sierra Leone’s president has declared a public health emergency over the outbreak after 233 people died there.
Ebola spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Ebola kills up to 90 per cent of those infected with patients having a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
But while the Federal Government health officials were battling to contain the scourge, the Anambra State Ministry of Health announced fears in the state that the dreaded Ebola disease may have penetrated into the state through a corpse deposited in Apex Mortuary, Nkwelle Ezunaka, Oyi LGA at the weekend.
The State Commissioner for Health, Joe Akabuike, while addressing journalists said that the development in Anambra is an urgent one, and that the state government, the Ministry of Health state and the Federal Ministry of  Health were handling the situation with the urgency it requires.
“Why we called you (journalists) here is because of the dreaded Ebola disease. In the suspected case that happened in Lagos recently, the victim is already gone, and all those who had contact with him have been tested, and they tested negative.
Already the state has sealed off the mortuary premises to avert the spread of the disease.
While the dreaded disease continue to make inroads into the region,  head of the World Health Organisation and leaders of West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak are to announce a joint $100million (£59million; 75million euro) response plan.
They will meet in Guinea next Friday to launch the initiative aimed at tackling a virus which has claimed 729 lives.
This coming at the heels of recent findings by scientist that Garcinia kola compound has been shown to halt multiplication of the virus in the laboratory.There is wide spread hope that if the trial is repeated in humans, this would give the body a chance to fight off the virus
Hope rose last week that the plant has been found to halt the deadly Ebola virus in its tracks in laboratory tests.
According to the report, scientists have used a compound from Garcinia kola, a plant commonly eaten in West Africa. Compounds from the plant have also proved effective against some strains of flu.
If the anti-Ebola compound proves successful in animal and human trials, it will be the first medicine to successfully treat the virus that causes Ebola haemorrhagic fever – an often-fatal condition.
The discovery was announced at the 16th International Botanical Congress in St Louis in the US  few years ago.
The Ebola virus was first documented in 1976 after an outbreak in Zaire – now the Democratic Republic of the Congo – where 88 per cent of the 318 human cases died.
More recently, a 1995 outbreak in the same country had a death rate of 81% of the 315 infected.
There are four types of the virus – Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan and Ebola-Ivory Coast that affect humans, and the Ebola-Reston  that has so far only affected monkeys and chimpanzees.
However, doctors have been unable to stop the virus once infection has taken hold,  hence the disease has gained a terrifying reputation.
Prof. Maurice Iwu, who set up and heads the Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme, led the research.
It started 10 years ago when researchers were led to the plant by traditional native healers who have used the plant for the treatment of infectious diseases for centuries.
“This is a very exciting discovery,” said Prof. Iwu, who himself comes originally from a family of traditional healers.
“The same forest that yields the dreaded Ebola virus could be a source of the cure.”
The virus multiplies rapidly in the human body and quickly overwhelms it, and in advanced cases the patient develops high fever and severe bleeding.
The Garcinia kola compound has been shown to halt multiplication of the virus in the laboratory. If repeated in humans, this would give the body a chance to fight off the virus.
The active compound is what is known as a dimeric flavonoid, which is two flavonoid molecules fused together.
Flavonoids are non-toxic and can be found in orange and lemon rinds as well as the colourings of other plants.
The tests are in the early stages still, but the researchers hope that if they continue to prove successful the compound the US Food and Drug Administration will put it on a fast track – making a drug available to humans within a matter of years.
“The discovery of these important properties in a simple compound – flavonoids – was very surprising,” said Prof. Iwu.
“The structure of this compound lends itself to modification, so it provides a template for future work.
“Even if this particular drug does not succeed through the whole drug approval process, we can use it to construct a new drug for this deadly disease.”
Iwu and his colleagues had identified Garcinia kola as a possible source of drugs using the method called Corbel (clinical observation-based ethnomedical lead).
Iwu in a press chat last week said: “The active substance is an extract from Garcinia kola (bitter kola) called Kolaviron, which contains bioflavonoids and prenylated xanthones and benzophenones.
“Work was done while a scientist at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Washington DC in collaboration with Southern Research Institute (SRI).
“But no follow up. Others at Ibadan and other Nigerian universities have done follow-up work on Kolaviron.
Similarly, another group of  Nigerian researchers claim they are a step closer to a universally accepted cure for Ebola virus, Dengue fever and leishmaniasis. They claim the herbal preparation has also been successfully used, in clinical studies, to treat hepatitis B and C, cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis.
The researchers from Halamin Herbal centre, 10 George Innih Crescent, Apo District, Abuja and Department of Histopathology and Cytology, Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) Jos, Plateau State, found that the poly herbal preparations- DAABS2 and HEPATOSAAB- strengthen the immune system through many cytokines and chemokines regulations.
Amodu is also a member of the committee inaugurated by the Director General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, to champion the development of herbal medicine through scientific validation of all the cure claims.
The yet to be published new study is titled “Natural and Sustainable Alternative for the Management of Dengue Fever in West Africa.”

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State (right), speaking to newsmen on Ebola Virus on his arrival from Lesser Hajj in Lagos recently. With him are his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello (left) and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Ibirogba.