No outbreak of Marburg virus in our facility
By Williams ABAH
The Management of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja, has allayed fears that there was an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease in its facility.
The reaction came on the heels of a memo hinting of the outbreak of the disease at the varsity teaching hospital.
However, the public relations officer of the hospital, Mr. Sani Suleiman, has explained that the internal memo that led to news report of a possible outbreak of the disease was misconstrued.
Suleiman on Sunday in an interview explained that the memo issued by the hospital was to alert the staff of the hospital on the MVD and the recent surge in COVID-19 in the country.
He said, “Unfortunately, that memo was misconstrued, it’s meant to be an internal memo within the hospital community for our staff to be conscious in case there is an outbreak or in case patients are coming to the hospital for treatment.
“They didn’t post the precautionary measures, rather they just posted the memo.”
The memo titled ‘Outbreak of Marburg disease and COVID-19 virus infection’ reads in part, “The management of the Abuja University Teaching Hospital wishes to notify the entire hospital community of an outbreak of Marburg disease and an upsurge in COVID-19 infection.
“Consequently, the attention of all Heads of Departments, and members of staff is hereby drawn to ensure adequate surveillance and hygiene by observing all protocols of prevention.
“More details will be sent on our various social media platforms on the outbreaks in due course.”
“So, it was misconstrued by one of the staff. Infact, the hard copy has not even gone out, it was meant for the hospital community to be conscious of the disease. You know some people are still negligent of the COVID-19 and if the hospital personnel are not taking precautionary measures, it will spread.
“We are just sensitising them to be conscious. So, it’s not like there’s an outbreak. We haven’t recorded any case of Marburg.
“People should disregard it and we are going to follow up with a correction.”
Last week, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has given the indication that the country was at moderate risk of an outbreak of the Marburg virus disease.
The NCDC said this following an outbreak of the disease in Ghana confirmed by the World Health Organisation on July 17.
The centre said it was on high alert given the proximity of Ghana to Nigeria as well as the World Health Organisation alert.
